


9 Years After

by NatsukiSufferu



Category: Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 | Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World (Anime)
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Return by Death (Re:Zero), Self-Doubt, Spoilers, Suspense, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:49:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 46,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28694973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NatsukiSufferu/pseuds/NatsukiSufferu
Summary: After Subaru decides to run away with Rem following his humiliation in the capital, Lugunica falls into constant turmoil. 9 years into this chaotic timeline, a new prophecy suddenly appears and offers a way out for the collapsing nation. Julius and Reinhard are sent to hunt down a certain "Witch Cultist" living in the town of Banan to save their country. Rated M for safety.
Relationships: Natsuki Subaru/Rem, Reinhard van Astrea/Julius Juukulius | Julius Euclius/Natsuki Subaru
Comments: 24
Kudos: 176





	1. 9 Years After

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILER ALERT. DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU HAVEN'T READ UNTIL THE END OF ARC 6 AND SLOTH IF YET. ENJOY!
> 
> I plan to make this story around 7-9 chapters long with longer chapters than the first one. I hope you enjoy this experimental scenerio I will be conveying. And I'll also publish this story on r/Re_Zero subreddit with my account u/Natsuki_Sufferu. If you have ideas, opinions, suggestions, grammatical corrections you want to share, please do as I'll appreciate all of them.

**9 years ago Subaru had gave up on saving Emilia and ran away with Rem. With his inaction, Subaru also caused the collapse of Lugunica.**

**Now he has to face his past and find a way to deal with his two old acquaintances.**

**His life hanging from a thread, can Subaru find a way out ?**

Reinhard and Julius were walking to the meeting room inside the royal castle. Reinhard was visibly nervous while Julius was looking down with his blank eyes. They had been urgently summoned here with no explanation as to why.

From what little they had been told, this was about a matter concerning the 'future' and 'prosperity' of Lugunica. Which by now, was an utter joke in the eyes of many.

Controlled by a group of old, uncapable man, Lugunica had already lost it's former glory. After the death of the royal family, 5 candidates to the throne had showed up with claims legitimized by their insignias.

But their claims were short-lived since they all died even before the 4-year election period had ended.

This has left Lugunica with no legitimate heir to throne and various noble families tried to instate a king from their own family trees. Of course none of them managed to sit on the throne for long as they were immediately outcasted by the Sword Saint and the Council of Wise Man.

Conspiracies were constantly looming around and the situation was getting more and more dire.

Sword Saint Reinhard van Astrea had been tasked to nullify those pretenders by intimidation or brute force. After years of struggle, most of the pretenders had been eradicated and nobles became aware of the fact that there was no way to control the throne without a legitimate claim.

Although he preferred not to, Reinhard also had to resort to using his immense powers from time to time. His presence was enough to deter most enemies although not all.

"But some just wouldn't run away." He thought to himself while remembering the times he had to fight against other human and humanoids.

"Well, I am a monster after all. I can't even stop myself from hurting all those people." he murmured.

Reinhard never felt comfortable about using his powers against the citizens he swore to protect in the past few years. And more he did it, more he hated himself.

As for Julius, he wasn't paying much attention to Reinhard or his surroundings. He just wanted to be done with whatever this meeting is all about and leave.

"I don't really care much about what they have to say." he said. He was lacking his elegant mannerisms he used to have.

Reinhard gave a small nod and said "I think this is about the skirmishes happening along the border with Vollachian Kingdom.".

"If that's the case, then I will accept any punishment I am seen fit of." he continued.

Julius immediately understood what he meant and tried to reassure him.

"That wasn't your fault at all. It was their fault for sending you there to ease to tension instead of sending officers or diplomats to handle such a delicate situation." Julius said.

He was trying to make Reinhard feel less guilty but those words actually made Reinhard feel even worse about himself.

In the sourthern border with Vollachia, there had been a few accidents. A few armed Lugunican troops had incidentally entered Vollachian territory and soon a fight broke out. This was considered and act of aggression by the Vollachian officials and more troops were send to the border to face any incoming attacks.

Although, it was clear that Lugunica was in no position to start a war, Vollachians didn't take such an aggression lightly. After the reports of more soldiers flocking to the border on the south, Council had decided to send Sword Saint as a peace-keeper.

When he arrived at the scene though, it didn't go as the Council had imagined.

Lugunican officers tried to keep him away from the situation knowing that his presence would make things even worse. But Reinhard with a sense of responsibilty, decided that he will be arranging a meeting between two sides.

Though that idea was immediately scrapped when the Vollachian officers learnt about his presence.

His very presence was more like a warlord rather than a peace-keeper. And he was given an ultimatum to return back if he didn't want to start a full-on war.

Sword Saint was forbidden from ever leaving Lugunica and engaging in wars. Also he had been actively supressing rebellions inside Lugunica so it was clear that he would cause trouble.

Vollachian officer didn't take his presence lightly and he was forced out of the scene.

He later learnt that skirmishes had gone a far worse way and a local lord had to make compensations in order to lower the casualties.

In the end, Reinhard failed and had to return back to the capital.

"When I had to act humane and bring peace, I instead made everything worse and came back empty-handed." he said.

"Again, it wasn't your fault. You should stop blaming yourself for that." Julius replied.

While this conversation was going they've finally arrived at the enterance of the meeting room.

Marcos was waiting for them outside the door and told them to enter the room in haste.

They complied and entered the room. Members of the council were in a heated argument and most of them didn't realize the two knights presence.

The two knights gave their formal greetings to the Council and waited for them to end their argument.

After a few more seconds an old man told them to stand at ease.

"Julius Juukulius and Sword Saint, you have been summoned here on a topic concerning the future and the prosperity of Kingdom of Lugunica." said the Old man.

They were already told that but honestly these were fancy words that were hiding the harsh reality.

"As you already know, Lugunican throne has been empty for more than 9 years and the consequences were dire for our beloved kingdom." told a middle-aged man

"But five days ago, a new prophecy had appeared and now, we seem to have a way out." another continued.

Reinhard was waiting for a punishment and Julius wasn't enthusiastic about this meeting but now their attention was focused on what the council had to say.

"Honestly, nothing could make this situation even more dire." Julius thought.

"The terrorist group named Witch Cult had been causing many unspeakable atrocities throughout our beloved kingdom and sadly they also claimed the lives of candidates that were chosen 9 years ago." the same man continued.

"Ah, this again? We've gone through enough formal apologies and still they bring that up." Julius thoguht with a frown on his face.

"But there is a new hope for our nation. A new prophecy have appeared 5 days ago." a fat man said.

"The prophecy has conveyed that, if a certain cultist leader is to be slayed, all the candidates could be... brought back to life." he continued.

Reinhard and Julius totally froze.

Reviving a single dead person should've been impossible let alone five of them.

And they were talking about long-lost women who went missing or dead years ago.

"How ?"

"What does this mean?"

This also mean all the candidates had been long dead. Those whom had their bodies found even had funerals conducted for their name.

That makes 3 funerals, as for the other 2, they went missing and they were never found so their funerals didn't occur with the hope of one of them reappearing and claiming the throne one day.

But right now it was certain all of them were long dead.

"Felt-sama... I hoped you were alive somewhere..." thought Reinhard.

His lady had went missing at the battle of Priestella and was never found again.

After he failed his lady like that, Reinhard knew he was utterly unworthy. Even if Felt-sama were to be found, he wouldn't be able to look her in the eye nor stay by her side ever again.

But he still hoped she would show up once again. Which never happened.

And now, he was told that she is already dead.

'How long has she been dead ?' 'I let her in the hands of a criminal and hoped that she would be safe.' 'I am an idiot for even hoping such a thing.'

But he didn't even get a chance to fall deeper into his self-loathing because he was told a way out right after the bad news.

"I am only good at being a monster. But if that'll help to get Felt-sama back, I'll gladly do as I'm told." he gave a sad but determined nod.

Past few years had been harsh on him. He spent way too much time supressing rebellions and fighting. It was easier for him to just obey the orders.

If there was a tiny possibility of getting her back, Reinhard wouldn't question any further.

Also, this was Divine Dragon's prophecy they were talking about, it definitely had credibility.

As for Julius, he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Anastasia-sama... can be brought back ?" asked Julius.

"That was the message conveyed on the prophecy stone. And the council has concluded to go along with this prophecy."

"But. But if all the candidates have already died, what kind of power can heal or even revive them ?" Julius asked with a bewildered tone.

"That doesn't concern us one bit. We are running a façade instead of a kingdom here. If we can bring back a strong leader, Lugunica will surely be saved from this hellish situation." one spoke.

"I am disappointed by that point of view but that's right. We surely are going through unprecedented times. But the holy dragon is once again helping Lugunican nation in a harsh situation. We shall accept his help and comply." old man said.

Julius still had his concerns but there also was another problem.

"How am I supposed stand by Anastasia-sama's side even if she comes back after all those years?" he asked himself.

"I am unworthy of her... If she even comes back I can't stand by her side after I let her down." thought Julius.

He lifted his head and looked at the council.

"But even so... If there is a way for me to get her back, I shall risk my life in order to do so."

He was filled with determination. After all these years, even if he wasn't going to stand by her side, he was still her *unworthy* knight. He shall go through hell to fulfill his duty as a knight.

"Please tell us what should we do to get them back."

"We will do as we're told. Please provide us with further instructions."

Both were visibly determined to save what has been lost. And will go to any lengths necessary to do that.

**Even if it came with the cost of killing an old friend and hurting his family.**


	2. The Candidates

**About 9 years ago Subaru convinced Rem to run away him him. They hopped in a caravan leaving for the western nation of Kararagi. Leaving behind all his hopes and dreams, Subaru decided to keep the person who was the most important to him, far away from any danger. But unaware of this decision, people of Crusch camp was getting worried about their safety. After the two hadn't returned to Karsten Manor for 1.5 days, the Crusch Karsten had decided to arrange an urgent meeting to discuss the situation.**

Felix: "Y'know Crusch-sama, I think they might've taken a little too long with their private time. But I don't think it's necessary to be panicking right nyow."

Crusch: "But they never returned after they went to the city to do shopping yesterday. I suspect something has gone for worse after they've left."

Felix: "These two spent a lot of time together in mansion. Maybe they needed some space and checked into a hotel to spend some 'lovey dovey' time together don't you think?"

That statement almost made Crusch blush but she immediately shoved it off.

Surely, something else was going on.

Felix: "Or... Just maybe he decided to run away with the maid."

Crusch didn't see that option very likely. After all Subaru was a man who would go into any lengths to stand by Emilia's side. Why would he give up all of a sudden ?

Wilhelm: "Even though he was going through rough times, I see it unlikely for Subaru-dono to just decide to run away." Wilhelm objected.

Crusch gave an affirmative nod to Wilhelm.

Felix: "But he messed up big time in the royal castle and was left behind by the lady he tried to protect you knyow. He probably realized swining a few swords and acting like he's working won't save him."

Wilhelm: "But Subaru-dono isn't a man who will just run away."

Felix: "What even makes you say that nya~ ?"

Wilhelm: "From what I've seen of him, he isn't te type of person to just give up on his goals. I believe there is some other reason for his disappearance."

Crusch: "So you believe that he might be in a serious trouble ?"

Crusch turned to Wilhelm, hoping he might have a clue.

Wilhelm: "I hope that's not the case but it really seems like it."

Crusch knew that Subaru had a very unstable mentality and now that she knew Wilhelm agreed with her, her suspicions increased.

Crusch: "I too believe that something has gone wrong. We need ensure their safety urgently."

This happened because of her neglection.

Crusch: "At least I could try to make it up to my contract with Emilia-sama. And now, I owe a them a serious apology."

Felix: "Crusch-sama we don't even knyow if he actually is in any danger or not. Stop with that line of thinking please !"

Wilhelm agreed only with half of that statement.

Wilhelm: "Crusch-sama, I think I should be the one to blame here. I saw his state firsthand and still chose to leave him unsupervised. If anything had happened to our guests, it's definitely at my fault. I am terribly sorry for my recklessness."

He bowed deeply in shame.

For the past few days, Subaru showed his arrogant and angry side to him very often. But he never seemed to give up on his ideals. Though it was obvious that he'd burn himself out eventually.

Crusch: "Sigh... We've already wasted enough time. And we don't know if they're okay or not. Please let the guards know of Subaru and Rem-san's disappearance. Also urgently form a search team to look for them throughout the city. I hope they are still safe and nearby."

Felix: "Crusch-sama is too kind even with these two losers..."

He was murmuring about his lady's extreme generosity.

Crusch: "Felix, I heard that and you need to stop with your attitude. It's our responsibility to keep them safe."

Felix's tail curled down and he kept silent.

Wilhelm give a small nod.

Wilhelm: "Understood, Crusch-sama. I'll urgently let the city guards know of their disappearance. I also propose asking the merchant guilds for information."

Crusch: "Thank you Wilhelm-san. Please do as you see the most suitable. Also let me know if anything new happens."

Though the sun was about to set for the day, they still took the initiative to find their two guests who went missing 1.5 days ago.

Other than that, they also needed to discuss about their upcoming showdown with one of the most horrible beasts that walked on this Earth for centuries.

A fight with the White Whale.

Surely, Crusch Karsten will be able to defeat that horrifying monster and boost her chances to the throne of Lugunica.

But before that time comes, they had to put their efforts on finding the disappeared two.

Efforts that will sadly bear no fruits.

* * *

Even after a great effort had been given, the two guests were never found. A few merchants reported the two getting on a caravan leaving for Kararagi but their testimonies weren't all that credible.

Information regarding their disappearance had been sent to Roswaal Manor along with apology letters.

But Crusch Camp couldn't pay that much attention to that topic because they had bigger issues to deal with.

A thick fog had appeared few days ago on a plainland that wasn't too far away.

But it was an unique type of fog that brought a great danger with it. A great mabeast.

The White Whale to be specific.

Crusch camp, with mercenaries from various companies and a few retired legions, waited for White Whale's appearance near the giant landmark known as 'Flugel's Tree'.

Days have passed and all they could was to send scouting teams all around the area for, hopefully, spotting the White Whale.

But strangely White Whale never made it's appearance.

Soon enough, the fog had dissipated and any chance of facing the White Whale was gone.

It's appearence wasn't a given anyways but after getting their hopes up for an upcoming battle, they had to return back empty-handed.

Wilhelm: "Crusch-sama, I am deeply sorry for my awful attitude in the last few days. Sadly, I've let my frustrations get in the way of my thinking."

He was obviously frustrated back there. After searching for that damned monster for years, he thought he'll get a chance for revenge.

But that demon beast had the audacity to not even show up to face him.

Coming back with no results, Wilhelm was absolutely disappointed.

As long as he could stand on his feet, he'd still chase after the monster who took his wife from him. But he feared his time would end even before he gets another chance.

Crusch: "Wilhem-san, you need not apologise. I am aware of your personal issues with that monster. It's understandable for you to be impatient."

Felix: "Wilhelm-san really sounded angry back there. But it was the least of our worries you knyow. I don't think anyone could've paid attention to your tone while they were in such a hurry nya~."

While the other two were saying that, Felix was relatively happy. White Whale was an extremely dangerous foe and it'd be better to not deal with it.

If they were to actually face that monster, Crusch's life would be in danger.

Felix: "I am really glad we're still fine though."

As long as Crusch-sama was fine, Felix didn't have any regrets.

Her well-being was more important than the glory of killing that thing.

Crusch: "We just sat around there and did nothing. It was a total fiasco. Sigh..."

As for Crusch, she also had her hopes up. Calamity of White Whale would've definitely put her far ahead on the race.

But it didn't go as she hoped. All that they did was sit under a tree and wait a few days.

Those thoughts gave her face a frown and she had to put her hand to her face to hide it.

Felix: "If Crusch-sama really keeps bothering herself with those meaningless things, I fear that she'll start getting wrinkles on her elegant face."

He had a wry and relaxed smile on his face. His tail was swinging around his back.

Wilhelm was already fed up with his own frustration. So...

Wilhelm: "Felix-dono, I appreciate your efforts for cheering the mood up, but please refrain further from belittling Crusch-sama's pain."

It was a rather harsh to immediately shut him down but everyone except him was already frustrated enough. There was no reason to salt the wounds.

Crusch: "I am really sorry. I seem to lose my temper against such humiliations."

Felix: "Crusch-sama but you really don't need to-"

Crusch: "Felix, I understand how you feel but please keep it for after we get back."

After that nothing much was spoken in the carriage. And the convoy steadily kept making it's way back from the giant landmark.

They didn't get all that much sleep in the past days since they all need to keep on stand by if the White Whale were to make it'a appearence.

Past sleepless days had it's toll on them and they all were trying to not doze off until they made their way back.

But since the Whale was nowhere to be seen, it'd definitely be a safe trip back home.

But with a twist of fate, their trip back home was abruptly stopped.

One of the carriage's that was leading the convoy got obliterated. It was literally crushed into smithereens in moments.

Felix: "Crusch-sama !"

Wilhelm: "We're under attack !"

While her name was getting called out, Crusch couldn't say anything because of the shock.

When she was just about to doze off a loud crumbling noise and jarring screams shook her to the core.

Wilhelm: "Crusch-sama, we are being attacked by a hostile group. Please be at alert." he repeated himself.

Crusch shook her head and tried to fix her composure.

She saw a white haired man, standing in the middle of the road. She knew she had to act fast so she immediately started giving orders.

Crusch: "Take up your arms !" "We'll run them over!"

They weren't ready for this fight so she decided to run past them.

But one after one all the carriages was getting blown away.

Something with a great firepower was destroying these carriages and it was really difficult to pinpoint what it was.

Then 3 of the carriages in front of them simultaneously got blown away and something big was making it's way to them.

It was one of the carriage's and it was moving through the air without any resistance.

It was flying towards them with incredible momentum.

With that almost blinding speed, they too were going to make contact with it in mere seconds.

Wilhelm instinctively knew he had to do something. He grabbed both Felix and Crusch and jumped off the carriage with all his might.

Where they stood a few seconds ago, was now covered with splinters and blood.

But thanks to Wilhelm's quick thinking, they were alive. For now at least.

Had it not been for him, they too were going to face the same fate as their comrades.

They stumble on the ground for some time and get back on their feet.

Before them was a man with white hair and golden eyes.

He seemed painfully average as nothing about him stood out. But something was strange. His attitude.

While all these carriages were getting oblitirated, he didn't even flinch. He just stood there on the dirt path with a blank expression on his face.

Not only he wasn't injured, even his clothes seemed perfectly clean after getting hit by a giant land dragon.

Crusch got on her footing and unsheathed her sword.

Abruptly attacking them and committing all these murders was no joke to her.

Crusch: "Stopping our convoy and gruesomely murdering my subordinates. You, identify yourself."

The man before her, seemed so unremarkable that his presence wouldn't even be noticed if he were to just let the convoy pass.

But it was clear that he was openly hostile and and chances of reasoning with him were slim.

But Crusch still needed some answers.

Man: "I see, got it. So you don't know who I am. But that said, I know who you are. Since right now in the Royal Capital... no, all over the country, people're talking about you. I mean, you're the candidates for the next Ruler. Even someone as distant from the workings of the world as I can at least imagine what a gigan-"

Felix: "Stop talking about your nonsense ! You dare to kill so many innocent people and come here to chat with us ?"

Crusch: "You really speak too much. Answer the question. There will be no second chances."

She pointed her glowing sword to the talkative man.

Wilhelm too readied his sword but he wasn't enthusiastic about having a conversation. This won't be solved in peace so they could've just skipped to the fighting part. But he had to wait a bit for that.

Man: "Well isn't that an awful thing to say. But, maybe you have to be that overbearing if you're going to shoulder a whole country. Personally I can't comprehend that acumen but, perhaps you shouldn't be able to understand the mentality of someone willingly pursuing a position as responsibility-laden as Ruler. Ah, but I'm not saying that since I can't comprehend it, I'm invalidating it. I don't have intention in the slightest to be that overbearing. Unlike you, I..."

Crusch: "You've lost your chance."

Crusch, with a combination of her wind magic and sword skills, send her signature One Hundred Man Slash to the man.

A sword slash so powerful, it would surely be enough to cut through White Whale's supposedly thick skin with ease, had Crusch actually confrented it.

But this attack was directed towards a simpleton-looking man standing in the middle of a dirt road.

With blinding speed, the sword slash made it's way to the man.

It made a loud contact with the man and wind coming off the impact zone confirmed it.

But after a few seconds, the dust settled and the man was still standing there unharmed.

Felix: "Why is this vile man standing there unharmed ?!"

Wilhelm: "I saw the collision with my own eyes too. But I can't tell what kind of power is he using."

A painfully average man standing on dirt, had just nullified Crusch Karsten's signature move.

No, he actually took it head on. But without even dirtying his white clothing.

Man: "...Attacking someone who's in the middle of a pleasant chat, just what kind of upbringing did you get?"

He was clearly angry.

Man: "I see this kind of treatment harsh and inhumane. Swinging your sword at me all the while I was in the middle of conveying my thoughts is clearly disregarding one of my few assets - my rights?"

He slowly lifted his right arm towards Crusch.

Along the path that his arm took, everything got decimated. With blinding speeds the dirt road along the path turned into deep line and Crusch's left forearm, which was on that path, detached without any resistance.

Her bloody arm was flying in the air and all that Felix could do was to watch in shock and horror.

Wilhelm gritted his teeth and anger. And gave a menacing look to the man. He wasn't sure if he should stay here or just cut him in half.

Few moments after Crusch fell off her feet while groaning in agony.

Felix, who was already standing right next to her, caught her before she met ground and laid her down.

With tears on his eyes all he could do was to ease his masters pain and find a way to attach her arm back.

He immediately started pouring mana into her wound while sobbing..

Crusch: "Fe- Fel.. aa... aaagh..."

Felix: "I am here Crusch-sama. Please stay *hic* calm. I'll deal with your *hic* wounds."

While his sobbing was getting out of control from the sight of his master getting hurt, Felix tried his best to calm himself and his master down.

Although Felix was definitely one of the best healers out there, this wound was no joke.

The cut on Crusch's arm was extremely clean, it seemed like it just detached on it's own.

But her nerves kept sending unbearable amount of pain to her brain.

After a few seconds, she managed to catch her breath.

Felix knew his master was in great pain so he had to do everything he could to ease her pain.

Crusch felt her consciousness was slipping away as her wounds were healed by Felix.

Knowing that she can't fight like this, Felix decided to put her to sleep.

But he still had to carry her somewhere safe.

Wilhelm: "Felix-dono. Please take Crusch-sama away from here. I'll try to find a way for dealing with this man."

Still sobbing, Felix was shocked at Wilhelm.

Felix: "I- I *hic*. You want me to leave you here !?"

Wilhelm: "This isn't my deathwish Felix-dono. But I am the only one here capable of fighting."

Felix looked at him with shock and sorrow in his eyes.

After a few moments of silence, Wilhelm continued.

Wilhelm: "I hope there are a few undamaged carriages at further back in the convoy. I'll try to make some space for you and Crusch-sama. Please hurry."

Knowing there was no other way out, Wilhelm decided it was for the best to put his life in line to save them.

That was all he could do in this situation.

He already wasted so much in his life. There were a lot of things he yet wanted to do, but he most likely wasn't going to do any of them.

Most of these to-do's were about his personal life.

He was a really detestable man, he thought. He ruined his son and grandson's lives.

He saw Reinhard responsible for his wifes death and was abusive to him.

He didn't know if he actually was the one to blame.

Even now he hold his grudge, but he also deeply cared for him and wished for his best intrests. He wasn't a good grandpa to him and wondered if Reinhard even cared enough to hate him.

As for Heinkel, his personality and attitude had gone for worse because of his negligance. Wilhelm was sure that Heinkel hated him for it and wished he could fix it.

And his biggest regret was not avenging his wife who gifted him with these people that he ignored for so long.

His anger towards the White Whale who stole his wife from him was so great that it led him to disregarding his other issues.

And with all these regrets, Wilhelm had to face an unbeatable opponent knowing that he'd die.

His sword readied in his hand, Wilhelm now tried to make sense of what happened moments ago.

A foe with unspeakable capabilities.

Nullifying any attack coming his way, sending carriage's flying in blinding speeds.

If he were to face this man, he needed to know his weaknesses.

There has to be something he could capitalize on.

Somewhere he can stab his sword through.

Or a way to delay his att-

?: "Ahh, seriously... no matter how much we eat, it's not enough! This's why we can never stop living. Eating, feeding, chewing, biting, eating down, eating up, chewing up, chewing down, licking, lapping, sucking, inhaling, devouring—Guzzling! Gobbling! Ahh—thanks for the meal!"

While these thoughts were running through Wilhelm's mind, Felix had fetched Crusch's detached arm and was about to run away.

Just when he was about to start running with Crusch on his arms, another unkown hostile appeared. The man's high pitched voice made Felix's body stiffen in an instant.

Going on and on about his cannibalisms, this unkown man was definitely just as dangerous as the other one.

Actually, not a man but a short boy.

Covered in blood, he was making his was to the trio.

Not his, but from the battle that happened further back in the convoy.

Now there was no escape route left for them.

Knowing that they were cornered from both sides, Felix had to engage his own fight.

He had to stay strong and bold even in the direst of situations.

Just like how his master did.

Knowing this was no place to cry so he stopped his tears by focusing on what was in front of him.

Felix: "You... You two are ?"

Trying his best to hide his trembling voice, he directed this question.

Boy: "Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing gluttony, Lye Batenkaitos.

Man: "Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing greed, Regulus Corneas."

Two of the most detestable man alive, had made their presence and made a surprise attack their convoy.

And now, they claimed to be Sin Archbishop's.

Lye: "We got some signals from our pet being chased off his playground. We surely had to check out for ourselves to confirm whoever had to scare off that 400 year old beast."

Lye: "But surely, our hunger was merely sated from what we've seen. We really hoped to see the chivalrous person who chased off our pet. Ahh... Sadly, our gluttony won't be fulfilled with such tasteless harvest."

Regulus: "Now that's something about you that I just can't comprehend, Batenkaitos. Say whatever you want about starvation but it's not that you're truly hungering, and saying that you aren't sated isn't something that applies to you yourself, either.. Now, just why is that you can't be satisfied, I wonder? Listening? You do realise that people can only possess what their two arms can hold, and have what their hands can contain? If you can understand that, surely you'll be capable of regulating your own selfish desires?"

Lye: "We don't need and we don't like lectures. We're not gonna deny what you're saying or say it's incorrect, but we also don't care. Ahh—Seriously, we cooouldn't care less about anything but satiating this unending hunger."

Regulus, denied of his personal rights, let this one slip through since he had other things to focus on.

A content and satisified person like him had nothing to do with such a glutton.

The cornered trio in the middle was left out of the conversation.

Felix and Wilhelm didn't understand what these two man were talking about.

Although they could get the meaning, they were really off the topic.

Regulus: "You see, I really hate fighting, myself. If I can have my nice and ordinary, peaceful, calm, everyday everydays, then that's enough for me, there's nothing more I wish for. Unchanging, uneventful, peaceful times and yourself, that's the absolute optimum. My hands are small and my power is none. I'm a weak existence where you have to wonder if protecting my personal capital, of me being who I personally am, is truly to what the best of my efforts amounts."

The man who destroyed half of the convoy just by standing in front of it, claimed his weakness and incapabilities.

They were just going on and on about their delusions without paying much attention to the trio.

Because they knew these three had no chance of winning anyways.

Wilhelm was still trying to find a clue on what to do but he didn't see any openings on them.

If he dealt with the man, than the boy with unknown powers will attack Felix who was very little fighting experience.

If he had gone for the boy, than the man's supersonic attacks will instantly kill Felix and Crusch.

He had to make a choice.

He chose to deal with the man.

Wilhelm: "Felix-dono, please take care of the boy on your side. I'll try to stall this man if possible. Ensure Crusch-sama's safety."

Felix: "O-Okay."

Felix put Crusch down and wieled his short sword.

He wasn't capable of fighting even an average knight. But he needed to fend off this Sin Archbishop right here and now.

Lye: "Ahhhh... Yes~ Please let us satiate our hunger. We surely couldn-"

Felix: "Are you finished with your buzzing ?"

Felix with his sword in his hand cut the cultist's monologue.

He put himself between Crusch and the cultist to shield her.

He'll give his life if it meant Crusch will survive.

Wilhelm saw Felix' determination and charged at the greed archbishop.

With no chance of winning, they faced their opponents head on.

* * *

Medics, guards and haulers were running around the mansion's garden.

A man with his company's symbol on his shoulders was giving orders left and right.

He was representing his company while his subordinates were doing their jobs.

Trying to finish the job in haste, he was doing some over-time to keep the order among the workers.

Deadline set by his client was still far away but he wouldn't mind some over-time to get his bonus payment.

Just a little more than 3 weeks ago, before the Witch Cult's attack, this place was a lively heaven under Roswaal L. Mathers' rule

But the owner of this domain was supporting a candidate with half-elf lineage.

Which provoked the Witch's Cult to attack and slaughter the residents.

All of the people living in the mansion and the nearby village were killed in the attack.

Their bodies were either piled up and burnt or left to rot.

Their message was very clear and conveyed in gruesome manner.

"Anyone supporting heresy against their beloved witch would end up the same way."

A very simple message.

After the attack occured, news of trouble had reached nearby lords and the Royal Guards.

But no action was taken due to reports of Witch Cult coming all around the nearby domains.

It was too late for this place anyways and Royal Guards were going to prevent another possible attack from occuring instead.

With Roswaal L. Mathers nowhere to be found, his relatives assumed he too fell prey during the battle.

15 days later, they made a settlement about his sizeable wealth.

His other mansions and lands were shared between his relatives. While this mansion and the surrounding settlements were inherited by the Miload Family.

Even though the land was now barren Annerose Miload, who was the heir to be the head of the Miload family, decided to fix the state of this domain.

But the surrounding area was already infested with mabeasts since the barriers were falling to disrepair.

So she hired a clean-up company and some mercenaries to start working on the inherited land she now controlled.

And now there was a lot of work to be done.

The roof of the mansion was totally destroyed and there were also lots of bodies half-eaten by mabeasts.

Blood stains, glass shards, broken furnitures, water leftover from melted ice, heavy stench of moss and rotten meat.

Representitive knew that this wouldn't be an easy clean-up.

All he could do was to shout around orders to speed up this process.

While he was shouting orders around the clock, a clownish figure appeared on the sky.

Few of the workers immediately spotted it and pointed their fingers toward it.

Soon, the representitive too realized the floating figure.

After 10 seconds of observation, clownish figure landed in the big garden.

Guards took up on this rushed towards the figure with swords in their hands.

But when they came to the figure they realized it was one of Lugunican nobles.

The former owner of this mansion, Roswaal L. Mathers had appeared after 3 weeks of silence.

Although his body wasn't found, he was still assumed deceased due to his sudden disappearence.

Shocked and bewildered, they had no clue to what to do.

One of the guards rushed back to the representitive and told him about the situation with a short breath.

Representitive too had no idea about what he should do and just decided to go and talk with him.

It'd be quiet a hard conversation for him.

Roswaal: "I seee~ someone finally decided to explain themselves to the owner of this domai~n."

Representitive: "Lord Mathers-sama please forgive us for our intrusion. I am deeply sorry on behalf of my company and my client."

Roswaal: "Very we~ll, I see you're doing quite the hard wo~rk here."

With his clown mask on, Roswaal gave his usual poker smile.

Representitive: "We've been hired by the Miload family for our clean-up services. You see, a really tough battle took place in your absence."

Roswaal knew this attack was going to happen. But his gospel told him to just stay back and let it happen.

After a week or so, his gospel told him of Natsuki Subaru's time reversal ability.

Knowing that he unofficially swore his utmost loyalty to Emilia, he trusted him to clear the path for her.

But after getting no new premonitions for a long time, he decided to leave his hideout and see for himself.

Usually when he was dealing with such conspiracies, his gospel would start giving orders more often.

This silence was no ordinary and someone with no future like Beatrice could only accept such abondonment.

So he left his shelter and directly made his way here.

He thought Subaru would make everything work out. Even if the mansion was destroyed, as long as he saved everyone, it'd be fine with him.

Echidna wouldn't do any mistakes with her premonitions.

But now, he needed to see for himself.

Roswaal: "I appre~ciate my relatives kindness but I desperately need to take~ a bit your time to learn the deatils about what had occured in my domai~n."

Representitive really didn't know what to say. Has he been hiding under a rock ?

Literally all his assets were shared between his relatives and all the people under his protection got killed. The least he could do was to know about it.

He should stay silent for a moment and think about what to say.

Roswaal: "I clearly see~ your shocked expression. It seems that it'd be for the best if I talked directly to my own staff."

And now he was asking about his staff?

Which staff was he talking about? That pink haired was his staff ? Those dead children stuffed in the garden's shack was his staff ?

This man is clearly delusional, he thought.

"This won't end well."

He knew someone had to tell him and it was clearly his job.

God, he hated his job right now.

Representitive: "Lord Mathers-sama. There were no survivors after the cult's attack."

Roswaal: "I am awa~re that nearby village suffered a horrible fate but I am asking abou-"

Representitive: "The only two residents present at the mansion, the half-elf candidate Emilia-sama and a pink haired maid was found dead along with numerous children from the village."

Not to mention half of Emilia's body was missing.

Maybe they only took what was necessary to them. Who knows what kind of sickening reason they needed her body for?

He tried to keep a straight face but giving bad news were never easy. There was no way to sugar-coat this.

Representitive: "Few days ago, we started clearing up the mansion and their remains had been transpor-"

He than realized the face Roswaal was making and immediately shut his mouth.

Roswaal felt the world around him was shattering. His eyes looked like they were trying to pierce him.

With a blank expression on his face and his jaw agape, his mind stopped for a few moments.

A rage was building up inside him.

He had come here hoping to find Subaru holding on to Emilia and his two beloved maids.

But the reality was that, everyone still got killed when Subaru was supposed to save them.

It had been more than 20 days and this horrible fate wasn't prevented by Subaru's unyielding loyalty.

Subaru hadn't even used his time reversal to fix this situation.

Instead he let it all happen.

Roswaal: "Why...?"

Unable to keep his anger inside, he grabbed onto representirive's collars and started pulled his face close to him.

Roswaal: "Why didn't he stop this ?!"

His tone here could be reffered to as, shouting at a bewildered man who had no idea and had nothing to do with this.

Roswaal: "Subaru... Tell me where Subaru is!"

Representitive: "M-Mathers-sama, I don't know who tha-"

Roswaal: "Subaru Natsuki! The vile man who let all this happen ! Tell me where he is!"

He was being shaked by his collars. Unable to comprehend what was happening representitive tried to get himself off of Roswaal's grip while trying to catch his breath.

Seeing this scene play out, guards rushed up to them.

But knowing that this clown was the most powerful magic user alive, they couldn't dare to stop him. Instead they pleaded him to calm down.

Seeing the guards piling up around him, some of his senses came back. He loosened his grip on the representitive's uniform and pushed him away.

Now free from the clown's grip, representitive stumbled back and tried to not fall.

Roswaal was gritting his teeth under his lips and started walking to the ruined mansion.

Representitive: "L-Lord Mathers-sama. Do you wish us to continue with our work or-"

Roswaal: "You shall leave immediately."

They could just leave for now. He had more important things to do.

And then he'd find the man who let his beloved maid die in such fate.

The man who claimed to be Emilia's knight.

The man who made a fool of himself.

The man who gave up.

He surely wasn't going to just let him give up.

* * *

In the last one year period, two major events occured regarding the election.

Firstly, Crusch Karsten and her subordinates were attacked by the Witch's Cult during their return from a failed attempt for subjugating the White Whale.

With the of the most powerful villains present at the scene, they suffered a heavy defeat.

The Sword Demon Wilhelm van Astrea was killed and Crusch Karsten's all memories and personality traits were eaten by the gluttony archbishop.

Thankfully, a half-human who claimed to be Crusch Karsten's knight managed to bring her back to safety.

Her condition was dire but the half-human was very skilled with water magic and kept her alive.

The information about her condition had spread like wildfire and soon all the nobles know of it.

With her memories gone, she was at a precarious situation.

After two defeats in a row, it'd be hard for them to get back up from this.

Almost simaltenously another attack had occured on Mathers Family domain.

Half-elf candidate called Emilia, who fit extremely well with Witch of Envy's descriptions, was killed during the attack.

But this news were met with delight by majority instead.

Emilia's death only cleared up the path for the other candidates and her name was remembered with disdain.

Greatest magic user alive Roswaal L. Mathers wasn't supposed to be supporting a relative of the damned witch.

It was only plausible for her to be hunted down by witch's worshippers immediately after the race started.

And her sponsor Roswaal L. Mathers was also met with great humiliation and pity.

Disappearing for weeks after the attack, he was seen coming back to his domain after a long period of silence.

Only dealing with the minimal paperwork required, he kept his silence in his mansion.

It was clear that he wanted nothing to do with the election anymore.

After Emilia was gone for good, the actual candidate's to the throne could focus on making their achievements.

But these event also alerted the Lugunican nobelty and Royal Knights.

Candidate's lives were valuable since one of them were supposed to rule Lugunica.

Even if it's a relative of Witch of Envy, they still had to stay alive for the kingdom's wellbeing.

As the candidate's were steadily working towards their goal, the purple haired candidate Anastasia Hoshin decided to arrange a friendly meeting between the other candidates to discuss topics regarding the election.

Herself, Felt, amnesiac Crusch Karsten and the uninvited Priscilla Barielle gathered in the Water Gate City of Priestella.

But wherever the candidate's went, the Witch's Cult came after.

Especially when 4 of them was in the same city away from the capital.

* * *

Sloth, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony and Greed Archbishops all appeared in the city of Priestella without a warning.

Communication systems were captured by lust who made a few announcements about their intentions.

Towers which controlled the city's water flow were in the hands of other archbishops and they were threatening to flood the city.

Led by the Sloth Archbishop's orders, hundreds of cultists wearing clerical robes were roaming the city in small groups.

Barging into housholds and stores, they were killing any civilians on sight.

Not only that, but the sloth himself was touring the city with a proud yet disgusting smile.

He was searching for something.

Although the other archbishops posed a threat, he and the wrath archbishop were causing more than half of the casualties.

While he was taking a more direct approach, wrath was influencing peoples minds who were staying close to each other in shelter inside the city.

Cramped up in large groups, their anxieties and angst was bouncing off of each others minds and soon fights started to broke out.

They needed to be stopped but there was a problem.

The Sword Saint ,who was present in the city, couldn't move a finger against the Witch's Cult.

He too was being kept hostage by someone.

Reinhard: "Deputy Commander sir, please let Felt-sama go already. Witch's Cult needs to be dealt with."

Heinkel: "I thought we've talked that already? You're staying here since you need to protect your father and your lady rather than those bastards whose faces you don't even know."

He knew Reinhard wouldn't stay here to protect him so he took Felt as a hostage to keep Reinhard near him. That was the bet he took on.

Felt: "You should stop idling around and help others already!"

Reinhard: "Felt-sama, I can't leave your side without ensuri-"

He tried to plead with Felt but she was scolding him in return.

Felt: "You don't need to care about me just go out and do your job!"

Reinhard: "But I swore-"

Felt: "I don't care about that, you're the Sword Saint. Also, I'm getting bored of scolding you!"

Felt really needed Reinhard to do his job when many people were fighting out there. She's been scolding him for some time by now but he still stood here.

Heinkel: "You think he is some sort of hero that can actually save people? He'll definitely do better as my guard dog."

Heinkel didn't want Felt to encourage Reinhard if he wanted him to stay here.

Felt: "How about you just shut your mouth?"

She was shouting at the both sides. While she was angry at the detestable Heinkel, she was even more angry at Reinhard still sitting there just because a dipshit put a knife on her throat.

Felt: "If you keep staying there doing nothing, I'm really going to kick you in your sleep!"

"I just have to be a bit pushy with him" she murmured. She'll even gamble her own life if necessary.

Felt: "Reinhard this is an order go out there and fight!"

Reinhard: "But you're-"

Felt: "Don't make me repeat myself!"

Reinhard's face was filled with agony and he started biting his lip. He was being forced to stay here and idle around. But there were people out there fighting in his place. He had to go out there and help them.

He turned his side to them and took one step. A necessary step if he wanted to help his comrades.

Heinkel: "Ey, you thought I am just joking around in here ? You are to obey my orders as I am your superior. And you think you can just run away ?"

He shaked the blade in his hand mockingly.

Heinkel: "You know what'll happen if you do that, right?"

Heinkel: "You surely don't want your mistress to get hurt, don't you?"

He grabbed Felt's head and pulled the knife closer to her neck.

Felt: "Bastard, I'd like to see you try gh-"

Heinkel: "Now that's no way of talking to your superiors little lady. You needn't resist as your knight is here to protect you and his dear father."

The blade was touching Felt's neck but it hadn't cut any skin yet.

Reinhard looked at the deputy commander, no, the father he hated to death for toying with his lady's life. But he couldn't vocalize his hatred if he wanted to keep Felt safe.

Gritting his teeth with a deep scowl, he stood on his position with his eyes down.

Felt: "Reinhard stop staring at the ground like an idiot! Go out there and do your job."

Reinhard tried to choke out his reasoning.

Reinhard: "I can't-"

Felt: "This bastard is all bluffs, he knows that he'll lose his head if he hurts me. Right?"

She turned to her captor and smirked widely. She'll have to choose her words correctly. She wasn't a good manupilator but when the duty called, she'll gamble her life.

Felt: "Even if you try to pull something, Reinhard will kick your ass in the future anyways."

Heinkel: "My, you're quite the smartass by risking your life in such a manner."

Felt knew what she had to say in order to get Reinhard to do what she wants. She was gifted with choosing the right people for the right jobs. If she could sugar-coat the situation Reinhard would comply.

Felt: "Reinhard! I want you to trust my judgement for this once."

Reinhard: "Felt-sama, of course I trust your judgement but I can't leave you here like this."

Felt: "If you really do trust me than do as I say and leave at once. This dipshit can't hurt a royal candidate."

Felt: "He won't be able to run away from justice anyways. This bastard isn't as dumb as he looks. He'll get his hands off me if you just leave us here."

Reinhard gazed at the deputy commander and saw his face in a frown.

Felt: "Stop wasting time here and leave already!"

Heinkel: "If you really think that'd work than you're plain dumb you rat."

Felt: "At least I can live strong instead of taking someone hostage you can't even hurt."

She turned her crimson eyes back to Reinhard and looked at him with a confident look.

Felt: "I'll be okay Reinhard. Just go out and save the day!"

Reinhard: "But I can't just leave you here please understand."

Felt: "No, I won't understand! But I might dropkick you in your sleep instead!"

Heinkel: "Even if he believes in that nonsene, you'll still be in danger alone. I might also throw you at the cultists if need be."

Heinkel was getting worry of Felt's logic and tried to scare her and Reinhard.

Felt: "Hah! I've never seen those claims coming to reality yet! I wouldn't be here if bastards like you actually lived up to their threats."

Heinkel: "Then I might as well be an exception."

Felt: "Nope. I've already heard that before too."

Felt's courage and nonchalance made Heinkel even more desperate and he tried to threaten Reinhard instead.

Heinkel: "You know that you'll be in serious trouble as a knight for disobeying my orders. Your reputation might as well be gone if you leave your mistress and the deputy commander behind."

But he had a great misunderstanding. Unlike him, Reinhard didn't cared about his reputation and standing as much. He'd even give up on them to free himself from all the pressure that came with it.

And Felt knew her knight's personality.

Felt: "Don't worry Reinhard isn't a egocentric asshole like you. He doesn't care about titles and such. Also, who are you to judge him since you're the actual villain here?"

Felt: "Reinhard, you can see he's all bluffs as I said!"

Reinhard: "But even still..."

Felt: "And you're still standing there doing nothing. Just go out or I'm seriously going to hit that elegant face of yours!"

It seemed like Felt's insistance was working and Reinhard was shocked at his lady's boldness.

Reinhard: "Felt-sama..."

Felt: "I'm telling you I'll be fine just go out and help others instead of this piece of trash!"

He felt like he had no other choice. He couldn't resist his lady's insistance when there were people out there in an even more dangerous situation. With his lady cheering him on, Reinhard turned his back and took one step.

He could hear Heinkel grunting and shouting at him and Felt.

But he took another step. And another. And another...

He couldn't stop now. Felt believed in him and forced him to take these steps.

There wasn't any other promising hero out there that could save the day. He was the only one who was capable of dealing with the Witch's Cult with ease.

And before he knew it, he was running in the streets of Priestella.

And Felt's words were still resonating in his head. She believed in him. Trusted in him.

She asked him to save the city. And she wagered her life for it.

Reinhard: "Felt-sama, I hope you forgive my incompetence..."

While he was thinking to himself, he also encountered many patrolling groups throughout Priestella's streets.

Dodging daggers coming his way, kicking black robed cultists, smashing, bashing, dodging, jumping...

The cultists were way too numerous.

Dragged here by the sloth archbishop, every street corner had a patrolling group scouting the city for civilians.

25,26,27,28...

A patrol group of 4 was eliminated in seconds.

He was than attacked by another group, which too was decimated in seconds.

He'll slay every single cultist present at the city. He was going to kill every single villain if necessary.

And to do that, he needed to regroup with his comrades. While he was trying to guess his comrade's whereabouts, he felt an urge to jump away from his path.

He didn't know why, but the area he would've been if he hadn't jumped was covered with dust particles and debris.

He recovered his footing and looked around.

A man with his mask down, was looking at him.

?: "This... this..."

?: "Did you just see my unseen hands? No... That can't be true."

Reinhard turned to the man standing other side at the other side of the road.

Crazy eyes, green skin, bitten reddish nails...

His appearence could be an eyesore at best. He could be compared to a walking corpse.

And the man with these disgusting features was gazing back at him.

?: "My... my Unseen Hands, gifted to me by the Witch's love... proven by my diligance... my hands that killed the pretender of my beloved witch..."

Greenish man started biting his fingers. His eyes were looking blankly at his hands. There weren't any emotions on his face.

One by one, he bit his fingers so hard that blood come out of them.

After the 4th finger, he stopped biting.

His face took on a little smile.

?: "Ahhh, great.. this is great... my diligance was proven YET again!"

Tears started coming off his eyes. His smile widened and all his teeth were showing. A nauseating and wretched smile. And tears of happiness(?) started coming off his eyes. He was celebrating his own diligance.

He made a conclusion by himself.

?: "I see. I am still the only one who could see this prescious gift given to me."

Unseen by Reinhard, protruding shadow hands slowly retrated back into the man's back. 'If he were to see it, his gaze would've shifted' was the conclusion he made.

After his successfull attack on the pretender witch, his confidance was in better shape than ever before. He truly felt like he was fit for Witch's love. He was the apostle of Envy.

After he retrarcted all of the shadow hands, his gaze met with the fiery haired knight's.

Reinhard knew this wasn't just a casual cultist. His movements looked awkward and he looked like more than just a brainless pawn. This man was up to something. Reinhard thought maybe he was trying to observe him.

Could he be a higher tier cult member? Or even the one behind this attack ?

Reinhard: "You need to name yourself and your position as a member of the Witch's Cult. It's clear that you can explain your intentions for your gruesome acts."

?: "Ahh, right. I haven't introduced myself. Let me get straight to the point then."

He seemed energetic about his introduction and his movements looked like he was excited.

And then the awkward man bowed his body to a almost 180 angle and gave his even more awkward salute.

Slowly lifting lifting his body back up...

?: "I am the chief commander and a sin archbishop of Witch's Cult, representing sloth...

?: "Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti."

A sin archbishop.

The streets of Priestella was the last place Sword Saint was expecting an archbishop to appear.

But here he was, standing in front of him. Or maybe he was just claiming to be one.

He checked his Reid Sword just in case. But nope, it wasn't leaving it's sheath.

Thankfully he had his bloodied backup sword in hand. He took his fight stance and tensed up his body.

Petelgeuse: "Ahh so you're trying act on your fake and pretentious heroism."

Petelgeuse: "After all my fingers've mercilessly killed many people you tried to protect, you came here to defeat me, the epitome of diligent loyalty, hours later ? How truly, truly, truly... ahh yes my brain is trembling..."

He started to pull on the skin on his face. Archbishop was amazed at Reinhard's tragic situation. He clearly enjoyed it very much.

Reinhard had to stay with Felt until she convinced him to go out and help the city.

How many people have been killed because of his incompetence ?

He should've showed some virtue and left earlier to help others.

Petelgeuse: "You are truly..."

With his eyes gazing crazily like they were going to pop out of their place,

"Slothful."

Petelgeuse: "I really don't want to deal with you in person, dear knight. *hehe* I am here to deal with a bigger cause right now."

His voice became squeaky towards the end of his sentence. He wasn't taking even the Sword Saint seriously.

Even he knew what kind of mockery he was. And Reinhard also knew it was justified for him to be mocked after all.

Petelgeuse: "My gospel orders me to complete the ordeal in here. I'll keep looking for that heretics corpse throught this city. Ahh, and as for you..."

He clapped his hands and more than 30 cultist had appeared from the ground. With a smile on his face, he pointed towards the Sword Saint.

Petelgeuse: "I shall take my leave for now. I hope you too will one day be blessed with the witch's love."

And he gave a salute to the Sword Saint with a widened smile.

He had no intention to waste time here. His pawns could easily distract this opponent.

Cultist members obeyed his command and launched towards the Sword Saint.

In large quantities and from every direction, they boldly attacked the Sword Saint.

Swinging their swords, using blast magic, jumping on him and throwing themselves at the slaughter at the other side of the street...

It was clear they were just trying to keep him here as long as possible. They were only ferocious pawns with the purpose of throwing themselves at the enemy.

And while Reinhard was dealing with these cultists, he was also trying to make sense of what that cultist had said.

That man claimed to be chief commander of the Witch's Cult. He also said something about looking for a corpse.

A corpse, but of whom ?

He may be the mastermind behind this coordinated attack. So if he was slain, the Witch's Cult would lose coordination.

Looking at the Archbishop who was retreating from the scene, Reinhard felt something he didn't very often.

He was angry. At himself. For his incompetence. For his lack of virtue. For being such a tragic hero.

So he wasn't going to let that monster escape so easily. He'll stop this enemy attack. No one else has to deal with all these detestable villains. He'll put his own life in line to stop them.

He knew his role in this battle.

To kill sloth.

* * *

More than 2 hours had passed after Reinhard's first encounter with the sloth. He's been chasing him around the city for a while now.

Reinhard: "I've finally found you once again.. Sloth Archbishop."

Reinhard's clothing was covered with blood but he didn't look tired at all. He can't show his weak side when he has to protect people.

So he selflessly kept on fighting. And once again he had encountered his main enemy.

Woman: "You... you... How can you be so slothully consistent?! Ahh... this is wrong!"

The woman pulled her hair in anger and squinted her eyes.

Reinhard: "This is your last chance at surrendering. I'll once again ask you to give up and your life will be spared this have nowhere to go."

After his first encounter with the sloth archbishop, he decided to hunt him down.

He later found him in one of the alleys trying to flee after searching for just a few minutes.

With a surprise attack by jumping on him from a roof, Sword Saint killed him without hesitation.

He couldn't believe it'd be so easy. It was unbelievable. An archbishop wasn't supposed to be dead with just one single slash. This man had caused so many casualities in the past. How come he'd be defeated so easily?

And he later found out that the archbishop's soul can jump between his subordinates, effectively making him immortal as he encountered him just a few minutes later. That explained his lackluster attitude.

He kept tracking down the same archbishop with the hope of permanently killing him. But he was getting desperate.

Woman: "My fingers... my beloved subordinates... you, you..."

9 times was he killed.

Everytime he killed him, he'd just jump to another body and keep running around freely.

Reinhard didn't know it but this was the last compatible body in archbishop's vicinity. Sloth had nowhere to run and he still couldn't get his hands on the Typhon's corpse. He was stopped by the Sword Saint everytime he got close to doing so, and he knew of his capabilities well by now.

After his initial death, he kept checking his gospel but it ordered him to keep going. He had to keep on searching knowing he might die.

But even if it'd cost his life, he still had to follow through the orders witch gave him.

And he was now found by the Sword Saint yet again under the tunnels of Priestella.

Reinhard: "Why is that corpse so important to you?"

He still didn't know much about this corpse but he knew there was an important treasure lying in the underground tunnels of Priestella.

His intuition had paid off and he was able to find the archbishop once again.

But he wasn't sure if he should kill him once since he'll jump to another body and keep living on.

Woman: "This is truly... truly slothful...ahh my brain is trembling..."

It could be for the best if he captured her instead. But the enemy was using an invisible force to attack him. No matter how much attention he paid, he couldn't detect it and his blessings didn't work properly either. He took the hits head on instead.

He got injured many times trying to stop the archbishop. But his determination was at it's full and he knew had to pull though this.

Reinhard: "Surrender right now. You'll be spared this time."

He didn't want to lose his chance this time.

And then

Reinhard: "Ghk-"

When he was trying to plead with the archbishop, he was caught by the invisible force.

He felt shadow hands trying to squeeze the life out of him. It happened before too.

But no mather how hard the enemy's grip was, Reinhard's body wouldn't crumble.

He was built diffe- [im very funni]

Woman: "You're sloth! Sloth! Sloth!"

Reinhard: "This.. this is your last chance for surrendering. You will not go anywhere with this gh-"

He felt the grip on him getting tighter so he felt he should just break out for now.

He forced all the muscle in his arms and broke away from the unseen hands.

Woman started to screech and scratch her cheeks with now bloodied hands. No matter what the she did, Sword Saint was just too persistent to give up.

Woman: "Shut up! Shut up! shut up! I am loved by the witch! I was loved. I am loved. I will never surrender from my love! I am her little pogcha-"

Reinhard: "I don't think that's the case here."

He picked up his bloodied sword from the ground and took his fighting stance.

There was no other way around it. He had to kill him once again.

Reinhard: "If you're going to keep doing this, then I'll kill you as many times as it takes."

Woman: "I spent my whole life working diligently! I gave up on my slothful side to be fit of serving her! I won't give upon my beloved witch! Witch! Witch!"

Scratching her cheeks even further, she tried to keep her distance from the monster in front of her. She didn't want to be slain again by him.

"She is beyond saving." Reinhard thought. "I am really getting sick of dealing with this man." he continued.

For a 5th time today, his offering for salvation was turned down by the archbishop once again. So he'll kill him again if need be. As many times as it takes.

He still needed to find his comrades but slaying sloth was his priority right now.

With his sword in hand, he launched at the archbishop.

Taking hits to his stomach, shoulder, chest, cutting through the lingering cultist forces trying to protect their commander, he made his way to the archbishop and then stabbed his sword through the woman's chest. There was no resistance and no other pawns left to help her.

Woman: "Why *cough* why why WHY WHY?"

Woman: "I did everything *cough* you told me to."

Reinhard: "Are you really going to die now?"

Woman: "I can't die here-*cough*"

Reinhard: "Please stay dead forever this time. I'm sorry."

She wasn't looking at the Sword Saint. She was thinking of something else.

Woman: "Witch, show me... your love..."

Woman dreamt of a love-filled paradise where she'd be showered with witch's love.

Woman: "Satella..."

Sword was slowly pulled back and she fell down. Reinhard killed the archbishop with ease once again.

10th finger was dead.

Sin Archbishop of Sloth Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti died for the last time in the tunnels of Priestella.

Unable to retrieve Typhon's corpse, all his hopes on getting to see his beloved witch was lost.

He died after doing all he could. He worked diligently and at least could give his life for the sake of his beloved witch.

Sloth was slain.

* * *

3 days later, city of Priestella was in ruins.

After sloth was subjugated, rest of the Witch's Cult retreated back from city for unknown reasons. It seemed like Reinhard's intuition had been right and thier chief commander's death may've scared them off.

But they didn't leave the city in good shape. Casualities were just way too many.

Shelters were ravaged by the wrath's authority, those who chose to hide in their homes were killed by patrol groups. Not even children were spared.

With almost no residents left, Priestella was now wartorn and barren.

Substantial amount of damage had also been done to the city's infrastructure. Priestella's waterways were unable to function and city won't be habitable for a long time.

Luckily Sword Saint Reinhard van Astrea had defeated sloth and saved the city from at least being wiped off the map.

City's valuable artifacts had been transported to nearby communities and the few numbered survivors had been offered free accomodations.

Things would've ended even worse if not for the Sword Saint. And Lugunican government was grateful for his actions. It was a miracle that the city somehow kept it's shape after all 5 of the archbishops appeared simultaneously.

Also, wrath archbishop was captured by Priscilla Barielle and her subordinates. Wrath was currently being transported to a high-security prison.

She too was considered a hero for defeating an archbishop. She was now ahead of everyone in the royal election.

But there were 2 other problems.

During the siege of Priestella, city's communication systems were captured by the Witch's Cult.

Crusch Karsten and her subordinates tried to capture the City Hall back but failed miserably.

During this failed attempt, Crusch Karsten was inflected with Dragon's Blood disase and was now bedridden. She needed urgent medical attention.

Secondly, Felt was missing.

After Reinhard had left to help his comrades, other guards showed up and saved her from the hands of deputy commander. He was handcuffed immediately for threatening a royal candidate and was last seen going to one of the shelters inside the city under Felt's oversight.

Due to Wrath's authority, a fight broke out in the shelter and residents attacked each other in that closed space.

The fight was fierce and shelter was totally ravaged.

After the Witch's Cult had retreated, rescue teams searched inside the shelter but couldn't find Felt nor Heinkel.

Even after all the shelters had been checked, they were missing.

Reinhard blamed himself yet again for leaving Felt behind. He could've waited a little longer to ensure her safety but he instead went out to fight with the Witch's Cult.

If something had happened to her, he'll never forgive himself for it.

And there was also a third problem that was only explained to the knight Juulius who was relatively unharmed.

The issue was about Anastasia Hoshin.

Nobody knew it beforehand but the scarf around her neck was actually an artificial spirit.

She had let the spirit posses her during the battle to cast magical spells and make it out alive.

But she couldn't revert back to her original self and the artificial spirit was stuck in her body.

As long as she was possesed by her scarf, her Od would be chipped away bit by bit, eating all her lifespan. So the spirit proposed to ask the Sage for help.

They needed to overcome a challenge even the Sword Saint couldn't overcome. They were going to set out to conquer Pleiades Watchtower where the Witch of Envy was sealed.

They recruited the leftover White Dragon's Scale members after the attack and immediately set out to Auguria Sand Dunes.

* * *

A group of 3 carriages were camping in the Auguria Sand Dunes.

One for supplies, one for their comrades and one for the purple haired candidate.

They were waiting.

Echidna was sitting around idling in her own carriage.

She was doing just fine but was fidgeting her fingers from boredom.

Julius often came up and checked her condition just in case.

Luckily there was nothing trying to kill Anastasia other than a lack of entertaintment.

So she tried to have a few conversations with Julius who was reluctant to do so.

Gossiping around in the middle of a desert was the lowest of Julius' priorities and she knew that. Though, she still wanted to chat with him a bit to pass some time.

As far as Julius knew, this spirit was by Anastasia's side ever since she was a little kid and watched her every movement.

Anastasia wasn't contracted to the spirit but they had a close friendship.

And when the time came, spirit offered Anastasia help to save her life.

And even know, Echidna was trying to break out of Anastasia's body and return her back.

So he had no other choice than to trust this spirit.

He didn't need to befriend it, they just needed to cooperate together

Echidna told Julius that Sage could be of great help in their endeavours and offered to go to the Pleiades Tower where the Witch of Envy was sealed.

It was going to be a great challenge that even the Sword Saint couldn't overcome in the past.

But luckily, the spirit knew a way to overcome the first obstacle in their way.

Located in the Auguria Sand Dunes, the distance between the Pleiades Tower and the people who tried to reach it would twist and warp indefinitely. Practically making the distance impossible to overcome.

But when the occasional rifts occured a gap in the space-time warping would appear, making it possible to pass through.

"I hope we can safely make it there" the spirit thought. "I though I doubt we'd be able to make it out of there without anyone dying along the journey." she continued her thought chain.

Julius: "Echidna-sama, pardon my intrusion. I wanted to check up on Anastasia-sama's wellbeing."

Echidna: "You know that you actually don't have to check up on me every minute or so."

Julius: "My only concern is Anastasia-sama's health. Please pardon my rudeness."

Julius: "I just wanted to make sure her body stays safe until we get to the watchtower."

Echidna: "Y'know, I always admired your loyalty to Anastasia. But keeping your knightly attitude 24/7 must be a hard thing. Right?"

Julius: "As a member of the Royal Knights, It's my responsibility to act in a collected manner."

Echidna: "I get that but this silence is really boring me to death and your unwillingness to have a nice chat isn't helping either."

Julius: "Please once again pardon my rudeness. I had no intention of making you think that way."

Echidna: "That's lame..."

Echidna pouted while looked out the window of her caravan. There were 2 other caravans and a few other mercenaries were just sitting around and idling.

Echidna: "But I admire your resourcefullness. Using barrier crystals to repel mabeasts solved a lot of issues for us."

The caravan on the left side was half-full of barrier crystals generally used to protect settlements from nearby mabeast breeding grounds.

But they also doubled down as a good mabeast repellant.

Julius had read this tactic being used in merchant caravans that had to pass through dangerous roads.

Using that knowledge, he had put big barrier crystals on both carriages beforehand.

But they couldn't be charged since they lacked the mana source necessary. Bocco fruits wouldn't cut it either.

But they were all charged with mana before they had set out to the sand dunes. When one lost it's energy, they'll just activate another one from their supply to carry on with their journey. And it had worked so far.

Julius: "I am grateful for your praise, Echidna-sama. But I merely read it on legendary a merchant's journals. It's wasn't my own idea."

Echidna: "But it's still an amazing achievement to come up with this."

Julius: "I still don't think too highly of myself. Also I fear that it won't be sustainable for long."

Julius: "Our supply would run out in three weeks or so. We wouldn't be able to traverse this desert with such ease when that time comes."

Echidna: "Don't worry about that. I believe we will reach the watchtower in few days at most."

Julius: "I am happy to hear your optimism, Echidna-sama. But I am still not so sure about this 'rift gap' that you've told before."

Echidna: "If you look at the tower now, you'll see it just standing there without moving. That's because we've been running around in a endless spacewarp until now. We just have to wait for the next rift to appear because that's when the gaps appear, making it possible to reach the watchtower."

She was right. The tower always kept the same distane from them. They've been traversing this desert for 2 days now but the image of the watchtower didn't change in the slightest.

Julius: "It's dangerous to be moving when the rifts appear. We might lose our sense of direction."

Echidna: "But it's the only way I know of."

Julius: "Sigh... Then I shall lead the carriages. If any hostile appears, I am going to deal with it myself. I hope you see it fit for me to do so."

Julius had to put his life in front since he truly cared about his lady's wellbeing. It was his duty to smoothen the path in front of his lady.

Echidna: "There you go again with your knightlyhood."

Julius: "I'll be a distraction if anything tries to attack us. And I'll ask you to behave in a careful manner to ensure Anastasia-sama's body's safety."

Echidna: "So you'll really scout the way for us?"

Julius: "That's indeed my plan. Again, if you see it befitting of me."

Echidna: "sigh... Fine but you're the most capable person here. If you get lost we'll be as well dead in the case of an enemy attack."

Julius: "I hope the barrier crystals will be of good use. We might put a few extra in your carriage if necessary."

Echidna: "Oh, I see. You're quite bold when necessary. Also, would you like to talk about your personal life with me ? I'd like to hear what kind of stori-"

Julius: "The next rift will probably appear in a few hours. I should go off to deal with preparations now. Please take care with Anastasia-sama's body."

Echidna: "Fine, whatever..."

Echidna went back to her pouting after being denied of a pleasant conversation.

She too spent a lot of time near Julius but didn't get much chance to talk with him. He'd've been a fun gossiping partner if he wasn't so full of his knightlyhood.

Julius got off the carriage and headed back to the supply carriage for preperations.

* * *

When the next rift appeared, they set out.

They were trying to push their way through the fierce sandstorm.

There were sand particles flying around everywhere and they had closed their faces with cloth to not swallow any sand.

Wind was blowing fullspeed and they could barely hear each other even if they shouted because of the loud wind.

Julius, who was riding his own ground dragon, was leading the group.

He had 2 other White Dragon's Scale members by his side riding along just in case.

He chose not to stay on Anastasia's carriage so that he could easily be a distraction for any potential enemy.

But he definitely didn't want to lose sight of her so he kept close distance .

Forcing himself and his ground dragon through the sand he kept his guard up. He often squinted his eyes to gaze upon his surroundings. He couldn't see much but it was still necessary to be wary. He felt like if he looked hard enough, he'd see the shadows of various mabeasts inhabiting the sand dunes.

Maybe he was just being paranoiac or he was just thinking way too much about it.

Often turning to his back to check on the other carriage's, he was feeling sense of tingling inside him. He needed to be cautious.

He couldn't see much maybe his companions did. So he turned to the scales next to him and shouted.

Julius: "Do you see any enemies nearby?"

His voice sounded nasal because of the cloth he wore on his face.

Scale: "Julius-san. I don't think any mabeast would be roaming around right now."

Scales were relatively relaxed compared to him. They had went on dangerous missions before. It wasn't any worse than some of their previous experiences.

But their voices could be barely heard from the sound of wind. Julius asked them to repeat themselves.

Julius: "Sorry, I couldn't hear what you said. Can you please repeat what you've said with a higher voice?

Scale: "Julius-san, there are no visible hostiles nearby! Everything looks fine!"

Then why did he felt a strange presence? He was feeling a sensation of being watched. Or being chased. Was it because of the influence of miasma in the area, or something was really up ?

He turned gaze around again but couldn't see anything. He nodded and confirmed it was safe for now.

He'd still keep his guard but there wasn't imminent danger right now. He needed to turn his back to check on other carriage's just in case.

And then he heard Anastasia/Echidna's voice.

Echidna: "Julius- I think we should stop for now."

Julius: "You shouldn't leave the carriage during the sandstorm. Please get back in."

Echidna: "I know but I think we've made a crucial mistake. Let's stop for now."

Stop now? But they needed to make some progress if they wanted to get to the watchtower soon.

Julius: "If we stop now, we'll have to wait for the next rift. You should get back inside immediately."

Echidna: "I know that but we should really stop for now."

Why was she so insistent? Was something up?

Julius: "Is there something wrong? If it's something on my part-"

Echidna: "We're being followed."

He too felt like being watched but his suspicions were shut down by his companions.

Echidna: "I might be wrong about this but I feel like I'm not."

Julius: "I too had the same feeling but I checked the surroundings and couldn't spot anything nearby. Do you actually have any proof?"

Echidna: "There is a giant mabeast 20 meters away from us and it keeps getting closer."

Julius: "Please tell me where it is! You should've told me about this before!"

Echidna: "I didn't want to cause panic. I wanted to be sure before warn-"

Julius: "Where is it right now? I'll deal with it if necessary."

Echidna pointed to the right side of their convoy.

Julius squinted his eyes and looked at the direction Echidna's finger pointed. He focused hard and tried to see the mabeast for himself.

An elongated figure was diving in and out of the sand.

Echidna: "I think it's an Sand Earthworm. A mid-sized one, indeed."

Julius's body was getting tense. This was no ordinary sandworm, it was at least 10 meters long and could easily eat a person as a whole. It was a normal-sized creature for the sand dunes but it was definitely dangerous.

And it was chasing after them, despite the barrier crystals.

Julius: "Echidna-sama, get back in the carriage!"

If he were to confront the sandworm himself, he might lose sight of rest of the convoy.

If he let it be, than it'd put Anastasia's body in danger. He surely didn't want that giant sandworm anywhere close his lady.

Maybe they could use more barrier crystals to keep that sandworm away.

Julius: "There has to be other bags of crystals in there! Please tell the soldier inside to activate all of them!"

Echidna: "Will that even work? What do we do when they run out ?"

Julius: "It must be because of it's size. We need more repellants to keep it away. Please do as I say urgently!"

Echidna nodded and went back inside.

"We're wasting a lot of crystals but it's an emergency. A bag full off barrier crystals should be enough to even make the Black Serpent flinch." she thought.

"I hope that Julius won't make any stupid decisions while outside." She murmured to herself.

While Echidna was dealing with the crystals, Julius kept watching the shadowy figure with caution. It wasn't getting any closer nor nearer.

Twisting it's body, disappearing under the sand for moment then coming back up, keeping the same distance.

As the carriages kept making their way through the sandstorm, Julius was trying to stay calm against this intimdation.

He could've went up to the giant sandworm if there wasn't a blinding sandstorm in his way.

Julius: "Please keep en eye on your surroundings for any other hostiles nearby!"

Scales: "Yessir! We couldn't see any mabeasts other than that thing!"

Julius: "If it tries to approach us, I'll intercept it myself! I'll be entrusting Anastasia-sama to your care!"

Scales: "You needn't to fight that thing by yourself Julius-san! We might be of significant help!"

Julius: "I am very well aware of your capabilities! That's why I'll be leaning on you when necessary!"

Scales: "Julius-san will make us cry with his knightlyho-"

Scales felt honored by Julius' trust to them and felt teasing him a bit would be fun. Then a loud screeching sound was heard in the distance. But it came from the left side of the caravan. All there off them turned their eyes on the direction the sound was coming from. They tried to distinguish the owner of the sound with their squinted eyes.

Anastasia came back outside to let them know of the situation which they already knew.

Anastasia: "Julius! There is another one approaching us!"

Julius: "I am already aware of it. Have you activated the crystals yet ?"

He didn't take his gaze off from the left side of their convoy. With his back turned against Echidna, he kept talking with her.

Anastasia: "Yes, I've activated all of them but it doesn't seem to be enough to keep them away."

Anastasia: "I don't even know if it's effective agains-"

Then her jaw fell agape at the giant shadowy figure on the left side of the caravan. She wasn't alone with her reaction. Julius and the other two scales beside him had the same expression as her.

A giant sandworm, at least double the size of the other one, was approaching them while making deafening screeching sounds. It's majestic shadowy figure made them gasp for air. It was directly chasing after them instead of tagging along from a certain distance.

Julius: "-hk! I-I'll have to intercept it right now!"

His tone wasn't lacked his usual elegant mannerism. His words stuttered from the sheer shock coarsing through his body.

Scales: "J-Julius-san! Are you really going to fight that thing alone? Are you out of your mind?"

Julius: "We can't go back right now! I am going to deal with it as I said beforehand!"

Echidna: "Julius! You should stay here to protect us!"

Julius turned back to Echidna to tell it was his duty to protect her. He can't let those beas-

Julius: "-ghk!"

When he tried to open up his mouth to utter his reasoning, he saw something looming over their heads. In mere moments, the shadowy figure had already reached them. Both of them turned their gazes up in awe. Tons of sand was falling off the figure's body to their heads.

The figure was leaping over their heads and it looked like it was forming an arch over their heads. The sand dune's miasma filled atmosphere caused the local animals to dismorph and turned them into abominations. And the result was this giant sandworm.

As if toying with them, the bigger sandworm was leaping over their convoy without attacking them. It probably measured than 20 meters.

The whole encounter lasted around 8 seconds which felt like an eternity. In such little time, they encountered the sandworm, it leapt over their heads and ran past it without fighting.

After that, loud screeching sounds were heard from the right side of their convoy and their ears couldn't keep up with such agonizing shrilling sounds. It was the sound of liquids hitting sand, flesh being torn off, rolling around on the sand...

It was followed by other louder screeching sounds and inhumane screams of pain. Two shadowy figures looked like they were trying to grapple on each other. They most likely were tearing each other apart for some reason.

Julius tried to shove off his shocked attitude and gather himself up. He shook his head hard and tried to make sense of the situation.

Mabeasts don't usually try to pull of such stunts. Especially when they're around humans who are easier meals for them.

As the two sandworms kept attacking each other, the convoy was making some distance between them. Adding mabeasts to their already harsh situation wouldn't be rational.

After they ran past the dangerous scene, their screeching sounds got quiter. And soon after, all the screeching sounds were gone. They managed to make it out without actually having to fight this time.

Echidna felt a big relief on her chest and faced to Julius.

Echidna: "Maybe they entered each others territory and attacked each other to show dominance? Normally, we'd be the ones to be attacked but it looked like they completely ignored us."

Julius: "That seems plausible. I'll be keeping my guard up if they return. But I insist that you should be staying indoors for now."

Echidna: "Fine, but don't try to do something stupid. Anastasia would get very angry with me if ya hurt yer'self y'know."

The last part of that sentence was in Kararagian dialect to tease Julius a bit. Having completed her mandatory teasing and inhaling her daily dose of miasma, Echidna went back inside.

Julius sighed loudly and now could turn his head back and keep his eyes on the road and other potential enemies. He fixed the cloth piece on his face and straightened his back. They were lucky. For this time.

One of the hired scales was having issues with his own ground dragon and decided to plead Julius.

Scales: "Julius-san, the ground dragons are at unease. I don't think it's safe to keep going at the moment."

He called to Julius while petting his dragon's head. The dragon was making whining sounds and was reluctantly moving thorugh the sandstorm.

Julius: "It may be bacause of the encounter we've just had. They might still be wary of that mabeast."

Not only his, but all the ground dragon's were still acting scared and were unwilling to go further despite their riders insistence.

Scales: "Or maybe there are still mabeasts nearby?"

Julius: "I hope that's not the case but it's still a possibility."

Scales: "The ground dragons would need some serious rest after we get past this sandstorm. We've covered quite the distance."

Julius: "Sigh... Let's focus on our top-most issues for now. We'll surely be able to get quite some rest if we manage to get past this obstacle. Focus on what's in front of you."

Scale: "Okay sir!"

This was no place to whine and the he knew that. He kept petting his ground drargon's head to keep it calm. The wind felt like it was becoming stronger by the second so he pulled the clothing on his face higher to not swallow sand.

Julius kept gazing around and at his back frequently to make sure everything was going okay.

"What would've happened if that thing decided to directly attack them instead of going for the other sandworm?" he thought.

"I didn't even notice it's presence before it was too late to act. I am acting rather too confident with myself." His attentiveness wasn't enough to survive in such a dangerous place.

And without their commands, all the ground dragons came to a halt. The convoy still couldn't get past the sandstorm and they didn't ordered their dragons to stop either. It was a decision made by the dragons themselves as they all were roaring at the empty path in front of them. A standoff with a rival that wasn't even there.

While the riders were trying to calm their dragons, dragons got even more agitated and started to howl at the empty space in front of them.

Julius: "Is there something wrong ?"

Scales: "Julius-san, the dragons are all screaming at the same direction. But we can't see anything in that way."

He was right. All the dragons had their eyes locked at the same empty spot in front if them.

One of scales tugged on the leash on his hand which couldn't make his ground dragon flinch. The dragon was reluctant to move from his spot as it kept growling.

Scales: "Julius-san, they are refusing to go any further. What should we do ?"

Since Julius was both Anastasia's guardian angel and the leader of their group, he was the one to make this decision. He turned his gaze at the seemingly empty spot and put his hand under his chin over the clothing on his face. He fell silent and tried to make the most logical choice.

Approach the seemingly dangerous spot ? Just go back or around it ? Maybe he was letting the unseen enemy get even closer every second by just sitting around and considering his options. Nonetheless, he couldn't just sit around and think a solution for long.

Anastasia/Echidna was sitting inside the caravan with another scale by her side.

He had two scales alongside him and three other scales riding the other caravans.

He couldn't just send one of his men to check the spot since it'd be unethical thing to do as the leader.

He couldn't just try to walk past the spot since the dragons were visibly agitated by it. Going around it could also cause them to lose their sense of direction.

He couldn't go back since it could cause another encounter with that 20meters long sandworm. There was no that guarantee it'd spare their lives this time.

He couldn't just wait it out since they were on a precarious situation and there was a possibilty of imminent danger.

He slowly took his hand off his chin and turned back to the other scales.

Julius: "I've decided."

It was the best option to take. He told them about it before.

Scales: "What've you decided on, Julius-san?"

Julius: "I'll check that spot myself."

Scales: "Are you fine, Julius-san? The dragons are all growling at that spot specifically. Even though it's empty, it's still really dangerous to check it all by yourself."

Julius: "I am aware of it."

Then despite his comrade's objections, he tugged on the leash on his hand to order his ground dragon to move. His dragon started growling at his master with reluctance. It's instinct were screaming at it to not go any further.

Julius bent forward and started caressing his dragon's neck.

Julius: "I know you don't like it but I really need your cooperation at the moment." he said to his dragon quietly.

He kept caressing his dragon's neck while ordering it to move further. His dragon made whining sounds and tried to resist it's master's commands.

Julius : "I too have my concerns but please move."

It didn't understand what his master was saying but it knew it was told to move. With Julius' insistence, dragon gave in and slowly moved towards the empty path ahead of it.

Julius turned his eyes to his back once again to confirm his comrade's safety. They were all still waiting there while their dragon's made growling sounds.

Julius' dragon kept doing tiny growl and whining sounds while taking it's steps unwillingly. He kept checking his surroundings with caution. They were still in the middle of a sandstorm and could barely see what was in front of them. When he looked behind his back he could still see the carriages but their sight were getting increasingly blurry.

After making some distance, he commanded his dragon to stop and gazed at his vicinity. It seemed like everything was just as fine. "I don't quite get why they protested to go any further." he thought. "We shall just move on."

He ordered his dragon to go back and soon he met up with his comrade's.

Julius: "There's nothing wrong in there. The reason for our dragon's reluctance is beyond me. But I assume it's safe to continue."

Scales turned to each other in bewilderment after hearing Julius' report. It was unusual for the dragons to have false instincts.

Julius: "Maybe we're close to this supposed barrier. That might be the reason they're so unwilling."

Even if there wasn't any imminent danger, it was clear that they'll encounter another problem soon enough. Still, they had to move on.

Julius ordered his comrade's to move along with his hand gesture. No other objection was given.

Slowly, they made their way thorugh the intense storm. After another minute of reluctant progression, they managed to finally break through. The sound of wind got cut off and a clearing appeared in front of them.

Julius turned his eyes to look around was surprised by the abrupt silence. The other carriages had managed to make it out too and all seemed safe.

Even though the sound of loud winds were still resonating in his head he turned to his comrades to discuss.

Julius: "So, we managed to get past the barrier?"

Scales: "Seems like that's the case, Julius-san."

The scales were seemingly relaxed and their dragons looked like they too were relieved. Their instinctual horror was proven wrong and they had managed to break out of the sandstorm. Or maybe they weren't wrong but just lucky, who knows?

Thus Pleiades Watchtower was standing in front of them with a very clear silhouette. It was towering to the sky with all it's might.

Julius was feeling his own relief himself and turned to his other subordinates.

Julius: "We shall wait here and devise a plan."

Julius: "And also..."

He turned his gaze to the giant flowery landscape in front of them. The hunting grounds of the dangerous Courtesan Bear. A sea of dangerous but currently dormant mabeasts. Luckily he had heard about such traps in the Auguria Sand Dunes and he knew that place was a no-go.

While he was contemplating his options, a familiar voice reached out to his ears.

Anastasia: "Oh, it seems you've managed to lead us through that sandstorm."

Julius turned his back to the owner of that voice.

Julius: "Indeed correct, Anasta- I mean Echidna-sama."

Echidna: "Well, I get that you're a bit shaken right now but I need to congratulate your accomplishment."

She closed her eyes and clapped her hands in polite a fashion.

Julius slightly smiled at this gesture and looked upon the other carriages. They all seemed intact and the mercenaries were enjoying themselves by filling their stomachs with tons of water/booze. All the sandy weather must've caused them great thirst. Julius felt a little thirsty too but he needed to have a little conversation before quenching his thirst.

Julius: "Echidna-sama, I must thank you for your cooperation during the first obstacle in our journey."

Echidna: "That's not really big deal, I am somehow conncected with this place as far as I am concerned."

Julius: "Also you haven't told me about your origins yet. I might try to get some words out of you if necessary. It might be of great help during our journey."

Echidna put her hand to her mouth and gave a poker smile to Julius.

Echidna: "You'd like to chatter with me? Well, we're quite in the dangerous spot for that."

She pointed towards the giant flower meadow and made a tiny circle with her index finger.

Echidna: "Do we have a plan to get past that?"

Julius: "Well, that looks like a lake made out of flower infested mabeasts."

Echidna: "Courtesan Bears are known to be extremely hostile creatures. I don't think they'd just give us a greeting and let us pass."

Julius put his palm to his chin and hummed a little before continuing his conversation.

Julius: "I hope that I can come up with a decent plan to get past this obstacle. Our crystal stocks might be of great use."

Echidna: "Sigh... You told me to active a third of our stock in one go to keep those sandworms away. They are still active but they'll run out of charge by midnight."

Julius: "We still have enough to keep us going. Hopefully, I'll be more careful with our resource allocation next time."

Echidna: "I hope you do. By the way, I am feeling hungry. As a spirit, I don't like the inconveniences that come with having a human body. I'll appreciate it if you bring me something to eat. You are to take care of Anastasia's well-being after all."

Having Julius prepare for her sounded fun. Maybe he had a secret talent for cooking?

Julius: "Well then, I shall command our comrade's to set up a camp for now. We'll have a dinner and rest for the day away from those mabeasts."

He looked back at the sea of flowers once again. A substantial distance and keeping watch on them should be safe enough.

Julius: "Please don't go near that place and be careful. And now if you excuse me, I want to speak with our comrades."

Echidna: "Well, do whatever you want for now I guess."

With that, they decided to set up a camp for the day. They'll try to come up with a plan tomorrow and continue on their journey.

* * *

The next day, Julius had gathered everyone except Echidna around a circle to discuss their situation.

He didn't get to sleep much last night since he volunteered to keep night watch. But even with only 4 hours of sleep, he still managed to look firm.

Julius: "I want to test our counter-measure's liability. The weather is clean and we can test our capabilitites away from our main camp."

A blonde haired scale turned to him and asked.

Blonde-scale: "What do you want to test, Julius-san?"

Julius: "Our barrier crystals seem to be working up until now. But we had a really close encounter during the sandstorm. I want to make sure our repellants actually work on these beasts."

He nodded the far-away flower meadow where the Courtesan Bears dormantly waited.

Another indigo haired scale asked in curiosity.

Indigo-scale: "Are we really going to waste those crystals on these creatures? What if that causes them to get agitated and attack us?"

He pointed towards the flower meadow in the distance with his index finger.

Julius: "I fear that our counter-measures might let us down against these beasts. I just want to see if it'll actually keep them away if we just threw a few of our crystals. Of course, we have to do it in a great distance from our main camp to not drag them near our other comrades."

Agitated mabeasts shouldn't be able to reach this place and his lady. Conducting this experiement could be dangerous.

Julius: "You two are coming with me the others will stay here and guard the camp."

Indigo-scale: "Bah..."

Blonde-scale: "Pffft...I mean yessir!"

They packed few pieces of crystals from their stock and started to make their way around the circular flower meadow.

After 25 minutes or so, they made substantial distance between now invisible camp ground and themselves.

Indigo-scale came to within 20 meters of distance to the meadow and activated the repellant in his hands.

Slight grunting noises rose from the ground and the flowery layer moved slightly away from the scale. The beasts were still dormant but they responded to stimuli.

Scale turned to his back and looked at the other two who came here with him. Julius nodded his head with approval and told him to continue.

Indigo-scale: "Sigh... Is this even necessary? They already got disturbed by this crystal but whatever..."

He threw the crystal in his hand with full power and ran back to his group. It landed somewhere deep in the meadow.

Loud grunting and howling noises rose up and there was visible movements in the sea of flowers. Mabeasts were trying to get away from the spot that the crystall fell on and started pushing each other around to do so.

A few of the beasts reared up from their spot and fell on their sides. They were squeezing and pushing each other to make space for themselves. It was clear they were getting agitated by the crystal's presence. One of the bears started biting on the one next to it and the bitten one responded in similar fashion. But they stepped back soon after.

Finally one of the bears got up and walked up to the fallen crystal. It smashed the crystal with it's foot and soon all the other mabeasts calmed down.

Julius looked at the situaiton in awe and noted everything he saw. It was rather rare for mabeasts to exhibit such intelligent behaviour. That beast actually detected the cause of the disturbance and crushed it with it's foot. If it was their convoy, they'd probably end up being crushed too.

Julius: "Luckily, we now know they can actually act smarter than they seem. But we have a bigger issue now."

Blonde-scale: "Yessir! We won't be able to get past this obstacle using the crystals."

Indigo-scale: "Sigh... It was clear that we wouldn't be able to just walk through their hunting grounds anyway."

Julius nodded at him and gazed upon the flower meadow.

Julius: "They seem to be calm now. Luckily, our little experiment didn't cause a big wave of disturbance. We shall head back to our camping grounds for now."

Blonde-scale: "That was all? Really?"

Julius: "Yes, I wanted to see how they'll react to our counter-measures. There isn't anything else for us to do here."

Julius and his comrades started making their way back to the rest of their group. Their repellants were lit just in case and it caused occasional disturbance for the dormant Courtesan Bears nearby. Slight grunting noises but nothing else.

They walked like this for around 15 minutes.

Indigo-scale: "We've been walking around this giant circle for some time now. I thought we'd be able to clearly see the rest of our group by now."

Blonde-scale: "I too thought we'd reach the others already. But the carriages aren't even visible."

Julius agreed with them. They should've almost reached the others by now. They've been circling around the giant flow field for some time.

Julius: "Our sense of the time passage might be altered because of our impatience. Keep looking ahead."

Blonde-scale: "Yessir!"

Julius sighed and kept looking around. If something had happened to his lady while he was away, conducting tests; he should just throw himself onto the mabeasts and be done with it. Of course that wouldn't be the case.

Indigo-scale: "What if we're still trapped inside a space warp ?"

Julius: "I think that's unlikely. As you can see, we're already past that barrier."

He nodded with his chin towards the towering structure to their right side. The majestic Watchtower seeemed to be climbing higher than the stars and it's size was awing. It was even better when they were this close to the tower. Certainly, they've overcame that space warp from before.

Indigo-scale: "I don't quite know how to put it but... if we get far away from any point in this circular fashion, we might end up in a similar loop like the yesterday?"

His voice was a little faltering towards the end of his sentence. The thought of ending up inside another loop was frightening to him.

Julius: "I don't know. And I hope not."

He put his hand to his chin and started contemplating. Was it possible for them to end up in another space warp just because they got too far away from the rest of their group? Unlikely.

While he was thinking, blonde-scale shouted to him.

Blonde-scale: "Sir! The ground !"

He shouted while looking at his back. There was a long bulge on the ground and it was growing towards them. It was clear that something was pushing the sand out of it's way.

Indigo-scale: "Shit! It's that thing again!"

Julius was shocked for a moment but immediately gathered himself up and drew his sword.

Julius: "It's another hostile. We'll face it head on."

Blonde-scale: "Roger!"

Indigo-scale: "Roger that!"

They drew their own swords and waited for the encounter.

The bulges on the ground grew taller as it approached them. Shuffle sounds of sand and hoarse screeching sounds rose up. The noises kept coming closer and closer and then, the bulges stopped popping off the ground. But the screeching noises were still there and they were becoming louder.

The trio took their battle stances and kept close distance among themselves.

They felt the ground under them was shaking and stepepped off the spot almost as if jumping away from a boulder. From where they stood just seconds ago, the ground erupted violently, a two-man wide cylindirical shaft rose up from the ground.

Blonde-scale: "-ghk!"

Indigo-scale: "Holy-"

The giant creature kept making deafening screeching sounds and it bent it's body towards the trio.

It was aiming towards the blonde haired scale. Saliva was pouring from it's mouth and it smelled just like one would expect a giant worm to smell like. Horrible.

Blonde-scale stood frozen from shock and watched as the giant sandworm made it's way to him.

When he was just a few meters away from being snatched by the vicious monster...

Julius: "Al Clarista!"

Using his sixfold spell, Julius sent a destructive beam towards the beast and created a big scar along it's elongated body. The sandworm was blown off course with deafening screeching sounds. After crawling on the surface for a few seconds, it dived back into underground.

After the monster crawled it's way back into underground, two more bulges appeared from ground in the distance. Indigo-haired scale caught the danger with his eye and warned them.

Indigo-scale: "M-More of them are coming!"

He pointed towards the two other sandworms making their way towards them.

Blonde-scale: "Why are they attacking now? Did we agitate them somehow?"

Julius with his glowing sword in hand, gazed upon the approaching sandworms. From the size of the bulges they made on the floor, it looked like they were smaller than the first one. The smallest one was making it's way to them while the medium-sized one was following it suit.

Blonde-scale: "What- What do we do now ?"

Indigo-scale: "We can't fight all three of them. By the way, are the crystals still active?"

Blonde-scale checked his pouch and confirmed the old ones were still active. But their power seemed to be dwindling after only quarter-a-day usage. They were supposed to last half a day instead.

Blonde-scale: "They are still active but something is causing them to lose their energy faster than usual."

Indigo-scale: "Activate more of them. We should avoid these monsters if possible."

Blonde-scale: "We don't have that many with us right now. There's only, let me see..."

Only two crystals were left unactivated in his pouch. He took both of them in his left and cracked their seal by hitting them to each other in his palm.

With this, sandworms slowed down on their approach and the nearby Courtesan Bears started growling in disturbance. The group was standing close to them and the repellants they kept by their side was enough to agitate them.

Julius and his companions kept watching over the sandworms with caution. And after the sandworm got within 20 meters of them, they started screeching louder and jumped on each other.

It was the second time they showed this cannibalistic behaviour and the crystals were probably the reason for that. Blood, torn meat, blown off sand... A similar scene was playing out once again. It seemed like they won't be bothering them soon.

As for the biggest one, it still kept swimming in circles around the trio and occasionally made the surface bulge. It'd definitely attack them in instant if there wasn't the few crystals on it's way.

Indigo-scale: "What should we do, Julius-san?"

Julius: "We need to retr-"

When he was about to give a retreating command, the ground under them started shaking violently. Soon after, the ground erupted and the giant worm made it's surprise attack despite the repellant crystals. Indigo-scale and Julius managed to jump out of the attack's trajectory while Blonde-scale couldn't due to his shock.

His body was thrown off the ground and caught by the giant sandworm. He didn't even get to chance to scream in agony as half of his body was instantly crushed between the sandworm's teeth. The parts below his belly was gone and top half of his body fell to ground, dying the sand underneath with blood and digestive fluids.

Seeing their comrade's life ending in such a cruel way, their knees weakened and they stumbled a bit.

Indigo-scale: "Shit! WHY?"

He started grinning his teeth and Julius tried to shook off his shocked state. His strength slowly came back to his knees and he assessed their situation.

The crystals were smashed along with their other supplies during the sandworm's attack and their only means of protection was gone with that. Also they were only two of them now. Even though his comrade was a seasoned fighter, Julius was definitely the only one who can do substantial damage to the sandworms.

While Indigo-scale was frowning at the sight of his comrade's corpse, enemy sandworms kept looming over their heads. Mid-sized that fought with the other one at distance had overcame his own kind and reached to two left knights.

Two screeching sounds came closer and ground under them erupted once again. This time they were ready to dodge out of the sandworm's trajectory.

The two worms burst out the ground at the same time and the one near Julius was met with a counter-attack.

Julius: "Al-Clarista!"

He sent his second spell and it hit the same big sandworm a second time. There were visible green fluids bleeding out of it's wounds and the attack was enough to make it screech in loud agony. But it still wasn't enough to slow it down..

As for the other mid-sized sandworm, it's body was already covered in wounds from it's previous fight and moved a lot slower compared to the big one. Indigo-scale was able to dodge it with ease and made a deep cut on it's body.

It was screeching non-stop and crawled along the surface trying to find it's way underground.

Julius picked up on the oppurtunity and attacked the crawling sandworm. His sword was glowing with beams and he seemed like a rainbow knight if you ignore all the green bodily fluids on his clothes. He made maybe 5 or maybe 10 deep slashes on the crawling sandworm and soon it fell motionless. It's stopped screeching and finally gave up.

Then, the ground under them started slowly shaking and a giant body erupted under the other sandworm's corpse. The corpse was split off from the middle section and was thrown off the ground to a very high height for it's size. The sandworm who did it was trying to fear off the other sandworms from interfering with it's meal but didn't know it was already all alone by now. After confirming it's kind's death, it returned back to the ground without letting Julius strike on it.

Indigo-scale: "Is that shitface actually mocking us?"

Julius: "Even with all those injuries, the sandworm found it necessary to confirm the other's deaths."

Indigo-scale: "Is it somehow trying to protect it's share of meal? That's bullshit."

Julius: "The mabeasts here are different from the ones you see elsewhere. They are way more intelligent."

Indigo-scale grinned it's teeth from grief while Julius gazed around his surroundings to see if there was any other attackers.

Small screeching noises could be heard but they were definitely distant for now. As for the Courtesan Bears...

Julius: "They are moving towards us!"

Indigo-scale: "Shi-!"

Their grand battle had awakened a few of the Courtesan Bears and they were coming towards them.

Julius counted the number of bears and it was...

Julius: "Hmmmm... 7 of them are coming towards us. We can still run away from them."

Yes, they could run away from them since they were still in quite distance but there was also the problem of giant sandworm. It was shot with Julius' beam two times but still loomed under their foots in distance. It's screeching noises was enough to confirm it's presence.

Screeching sounds got more frequent and louder. The nosies ran past under their feet and made it's way to the incoming Courtesan Bears.

Indigo-scale: "Don't tell me that creature is going to attack others instead of us again."

Julius: "We shall use this chance to get some distance between us. I doubt that sandworm could kill all those Bears."

Indigo-scale: "Hai!"

They ran off from the battle scene and made their way to rest of their camp. They didn't have any crystals with them and they had already lost a comrade.

They ran off like this for a some time. Loud screeching noises and growls could be heard in the distance. Julius turned his back once in a while to check the scene and could see the gruesome battle between the sandworm and bears. Luckily, they weren't caught in the crossfire.

Indigo-scale: "*pant* Julius-san, we've *pant* made quite the distance."

Julius: "We need to get further away from there.*pant*"

He tried to hide his own panting while talking but it was easy to see he was struggling. He was already exhausted from the battle with sandworms and walking around all day. The same could be said for Indigo-scale but he was also thinking about how to explain his comrade's death to his colleagues.

Indigo-scale: "How do I *pant* explain this mess *pant* to them?"

Julius ,with a foul stench on his clothes, was about to go into hysterics instead. "Where is the rest of the carriages?" "Where is Echidna?"

Indigo-scale: "Also *pant* where are the *pant* others?"

Julius kept looking around. He scanned every single inch with his eyes but still couldn't see the rest of their group. He was panicking.

Julius: "You can't see them either?"

Indigo-scale: "*pant* no..."

Then, Julius caught something within his vision. A smoke was rising in the far, far distance. He pointed his finger towards the smoke and talked to his comrade.

Julius: "I think we found them. But they are way farther than I had anticipated."

Indigo-scale kept looked at the direction Julius pointed while panting. "I'm pretty sure we won't find anything pleasant in there." he thought.

They kept walking toward the distant smoke and it was already past noon by now.

Their thirst was at limit and they would've probably let their tongues out from exhaustion if not for their ego's. When they came in to a visible distance from their destination, they saw carriages lying around and a ,probably, newly extinguished campfire.

Both rushed to the scene despite their unbearable thirst and started searching the wreckages. Soon they could confirm it was indeed the camp they left behind this morning as Julius found his ground dragon's headless corpse lying in the ground beside the campfire. It's head wasn't cut but blown. Few bloody bone particles still laid around along with a pool of blood. It was his beloved dragon. Julius had cared about his ground dragon more than so many other things in his life. It was one of the few possesions he had and it was a long estabilished friend. This reality would broke his confidence for the rest of his life. Losing one of his dearest friends because of his incompetence...

As for Indigo-scale's search, he found few of their supplies scattered around one of the carraiges. Water, food, crystal, clothing, booze etc. was still lying around and he drank from the first water jug he found. After quenching his thirst, he kept searching through the carriage. He later found one of their ground dragon hiding behind the other carriage and approached it. To his surprise, ground dragon started growling at him loudly and almost bit his hand. Though it was apparent that the dragon had a traumatic experience while they were gone. And would occasionally growl at his presence. "Nothing could be done about it for now." he thought. He left it be. For now, he had to report to Julius.

He ran to Julius and tried to talk to him. Julius was still covered in green blood and he carried a foul stench. He was frowning non-stop and didn't seem to want to discuss anthing. But still he had to talk.

Indigo-scale: "Julius-san, I know it's not the time for it, but here..."

He extended his arm to him with a water bottle in hand. Julius gave a small thanks and drank all of it in one go. That bottle wasn't enough to satisfy his thirst but it'd keep him going for some time. He threw the bottle on ground after he emptied it without giving much thought to it.

Indigo-scale: "I can bring some mo-"

Julius: "Leave it be."

Indigo-scale: "I see... So, I found some of o-"

Julius: "Do you know what happened here?"

Indigo-scale: "No, but I-"

Julius: "Have you found anyone else?"

Indigo was taken aback by Julius' rapid questions but tried to keep up.

Indigo-scale: "Seems like we are alone. Although, I found a ground dragon."

Julius almost felt tears forming around his eyes but decided to keep them in for now.

Julius: "Sadly, that was my dragon."

Indigo-scale: "Oh- No,wait. I'm not talking about your dragon. I found another one back there. It's still alive but has a tendency to bite."

He pointed towards the carriage on the back side. Julius nodded and continued.

Julius: "Hmph... Okay. Anything else?"

Indigo-scale: "No... I just wanted to report to you, Julius-san."

Julius: "Have you seen the 3rd carriage nearby?"

Indigo-scale: "Oh wait. Yeah, there are only two carriages here. They seem in good shape but the stuff inside are tossed around and such."

Julius: "I'll deal with the dragon myself. Gather all the supplies you can. There must be a reason for their disappearance. We'll search for them."

Indigo-scale: "Got it."

With that, they prepared to search after their missing group. From now on, they'd be roaming around the flower meadow for some time.

Anastasia and the rest of the group would never be found. Leaving Julius with yet another scar that would never heal. Lost within his thoughts in the Auguria Sand Dunes, Julius was yet to face the biggest mistake he had done.

* * *

**[A/N: As of me writing this chaper, Arc 7 hadn't yet started. I don't know what to write other than a short explanation to Priscilla's fate. Consider reading 'Priscilla's Cheers For Me' side story to make sense of this part.]**

While these events were unfolding, Priscilla camp was dealing with their own issues. After the battle of Priestella, Priscilla Barielle and her subordinates went back to her domain to not fool around in the ruined city. This trip really left a bad aftertaste as it was really bloody and dangerous. Luckily, no one in her camp was injured or killed.

If you don't count Al, that is. With no cooperation between the heroes present at the battle, he had to use his 'dirty trick' more than 10 thousand times to ensure Priscilla's safety and to avoid getting the Dragon's Blood disase. It was a really thorny path but he managed to find a way to save his lady and a certain pink haired Schult. Funnily enough, protecting Schult was 10x harder to do than to protect Priscilla. And he got decapitated many times for not being able to save him.

He'd rather not put himself into risky situations as that'd require tons of work ever again. He was determined to convince Priscilla to not do such dangerous trips around the country. Yeah, he'd stop her from throwing herself into dange-

Priscilla: "You dare defy me you foolish clown?!"

Al: "It's not much of a def-"

He felt his head being severed from the rest of his body. World got darker and stars started to spin around.

He heard a boy's panicking noises and saw him rushing to help.

998th.

Next.

Al: "Princess, I REALLY know that you wish to punish those dudes but please consider."

Priscilla: "So you think mineself should just eat up this ridiculation?"

Al: "No, but you should just stay he-"

He felt his head being severed from the rest of his body. World got darker and stars started to spin around.

He heard a boy's panicking noises and saw him rushing to help.

999th.

Next.

Al: "Do you really think that you can just win against the whole Volla-"

He felt his head being severed from the rest of his body. World got darker and stars started to spin around.

He heard a boy's panicking noises and saw him rushing to help.

1000th.

Next.

Priscilla: "You commoner dare defy my intuition?"

Al: "Of course not, Princess. But just accept you can be wro-"

He felt his head being severed from the rest of his body. World got darker and stars started to spin around.

He heard a boy's panicking noises and saw him rushing to help.

1001th.

Next.

Priscilla: "Hmph... They had it coming for them."

Al: "I know. So we should just avoid going there."

He felt his head being severed from the rest of his body. World got darker and stars started to spin around.

He heard a boy's panicking noises and saw him rushing to help.

1002th.

Next.

He was starting to get desperate. It had been more than a thousand deaths and Priscilla wouldn't change her decision no matter what.

Sometimes no matter what he does, the outcome will always be the same. His dirty trick could only help him so much.

Al: "Sigh... I guess you're right. We should attack them head on."

Priscilla: "I'm surprised that you're not objecting mineself's decision. Although, if you were to, I'd've severed your head on the spot."

Al: "Of course I wouldn't want that to happen. Also, I trust your intuition fully, Princess."

Priscilla: "I wouldn't except a jester like you to have a brain in his skull. You may keep your head for the timebeing."

Al: "Oh. I don't know what I might've done to deserve such genorosity."

Priscilla: "Hmph... Take these corpses away."

Al: "Hai!"

He began carrying dead assasins out of the room with his only arm. Schult on the other hand brought Priscilla the water pitcher he filled before the attack.

"Sigh... I now have to deal with all the problem's we'll have to face in the near future."

There was no avoiding it. They were going to Vollachia.

Where Priscilla would be killed despite Al using his 'dirty trick to it's full extent. Stars may spin as they wish. But Al's Pride will give in in the end.

* * *

7 months after the siege of Priestella, a certain green haired woman was lying in her bed. It was night time and the rooms lighting was dimmed to not disturb her rest. Atmosphere in the room was gloomy, enough to give anyone inside a bad mood. But the air felt fresh and a bit chilly. Window was slightly open to let some air inside.

The woman was lying on her bed with black veins running through her skin. She could barely be recognised if not for her unique dark green hair. She had been fighting the Dragon's Blood disase for more than half a year and was nearly at the limit of her fighting strength. She was tired.

"It was actually a miracle that she made it this far."

Even though she didn't have her previous memories and qualities, she still had a person who stood by her side no matter what. The nameless knight Felix Argyle. He was the first person to stand by her side after she lost her memories. He was the first person to look for a cure for her ilness. He was the last person who'll stay by her side as she parted away from this world. He had done all he could.

He did every spell, every magic, every healing, every imaginable treatment possible to heal his master. He researched, read, talked about every little information he could find. When he couldn't find anything else he asked for every medic, every magician, ever spirit arts user he could find for help. And even their efforts didn't give any results. This disase was literally uncurable. Felix was never this desperate in his whole life.

Now, only thing he could do was to share some of his life energy with his master to relieve her pain even just one bit, much to her objections. And now, even that wasn't enough to keep her alive. She was slipping away from his reach.

He casted a spell he had tried before. He had to do something. Maybe he did with wrong technique last time? With a slight glow, he tried his best to find an opening or a weak point on his master's body. Sadly no, same result. Slight mana flow completely stopped as there was nowhere for it to go. She had no wounds. She had an incurable disase. He was acting dumb as ever.

All he could see was the harsh reality in front of him. The most important person in his life was slowly drifting away. No matter how much he struggles, wails, endures, his hands was so small and couldn't even hold onto one single person. This was the result of his incapabilities.

Felix: "Why doesn't it work? Why... why why?"

With tears in his eyes and a trembling voice, he wanted asked for forgiveness. His master was dying because of him.

Felix: "I-I'm *hic* sorry Crusch-sama. I'm so sorry.*hic* It doesn't work. I-I don't understand..."

Felix: "I... I can't... *hic*... Forgive me... please..."

His voice cracked as he bowed his head and cried all his anguish out. He couldn't stop his somewhat loud sobbing. It was getting harder and harder for him to stand upright. After a few sobs, his head bowed even lower to his knees as he kept sitting on his chair near the bed.

Crusch was lying on her side to face her knight. She was tired beyond comprehension after months of struggle against this disase. She couldn't keep up anymore. And now, she had to face her dearest knight.

Her knight was asking for forgiveness. But all she could feel for the person in front of her was gratitude. She was simply lucky to have someone like him care for her pathetic existence. She should be the one apologizing. She didn't deserve someone like him and couldn't even live up to his expectations. She was spitting on his trust by doing this to him.

There were other people who were strong, bold, assuring... She was none of them. All she did was to let him down and force this sadness on him. She needed to stay strong for her knight but could only let out a few drops of tears from her eyes. Her self-loathing was becoming too heavy to bear.

"I am pathetic." "I should be the one begging for his forgiveness..."

She grabbed the crying cats hand and caressed it slowly. She didn't have the energy to speak right now.

Felix: "I am useless... I *hic* can't even save you..."

Felix: "I wish I could... Crusch-sama... I-"

His chest got tighter and had to hold onto it with his empty hand. He felt like the world was darkening and eroding around him. His ears were slightly buzzing and he felt dizzy. He had shared a bit too much od with her master this time. His emotions made him lost control of the situation and he was just feeling the backlash for that.

But soon after, his pain dissipated. This wasn't the first time he had shortened his life-span like this.

Felix: "I'm sorry..."

He wanted to hear her voice. He wanted to be forgiven for his sins. He let her down. If only he could-

Crusch: "Felix..."

She mustered up all her energy to whisper to him. A silent but emotion-filled whisper. Felix lifted his head slightly and faced his master. Tears were running down both's eyes. Although, Felix'd be the definite winner if this was a race. His whole face was becoming wet from his sizeable teardrops. He ignored his own pitiful look and locked eyes with his master. Then he heard something he wasn't expecting.

Crusch: "Thank you."

Felix: "Wha- What?"

Tears around his eyes became larger and they started to cover all around his cheeks. She was thanking someone like him. She shouldn't do that. He was the one who let her down. He was the one who forced this fate upon her with his incompetence. But he was blessed with this beautiful emotions instead. He felt a happinnes he hadn't felt for a long time. Corners of his mouth slightly curved but he still felt great anguish inside. Way too many emotions for someone like him to handle properly.

Crusch: "..."

Crusch smiled back at Felix. Her smile was stained with black veins running across her face but to Felix, this was the most beautiful smile in the world. He'd do anything to see that smile for every single minute of his life.

Crusch kept looking at Felix with slightly curved eyes. She was grateful to him. She was so happy to spend this moment with him.

Felix: "Crush-sama..."

He tried to reject her apology but couldn't. He was being selfish again. He didn't want to reject her like that.

Crusch understood what he was thinking and gave a small squeeze to Felix's hand. All she could do was to comfort him.

She was blessed by such an amazing person's love. An endless love that she couldn't understand. Felix had told the entire history between them to her but she still couldn't understand what he truly felt. She was just an empty shell of a former Crusch. Her legacy had died long ago and she was just a bad replacement for her.

When she looked at the crying Felix in front of her, she couldn't recognize him. He was just a man who had been very kind to her ever since this 'Crusch' took on the stage. She wished to be that person who Felix truly loved.

And now, her time with him was running out. If there is a possibility, she'd like to meet him in a palce high up in the skies. She'd look forward to it.

While thinking this, her eyes slowly drifted away. The pain on her body was getting numb. World around her was getting quiet. Soon, she felt at peace. She didn't have to struggle anymore. All she had to do was...

The room fell into silence. Her breathing stopped.

The boy sitting near the bed now had a wider smile on his face. He was glad that his master's suffering ended. She was at peace now. He needn't feel bad for her anymore.

He wanted to see her smile again.

He stood up and slowly walked towards the drawer at the opposite side of the room.

He grabbed a curvy knife and a little container with greenish liquid inside. He soaked the knife's tip in the liquid and made his way back near the bed.

He laid down by her side and grabbed her hand with his own empty hand. He put it near his cheek to feel his master's fleeting body warmth.

He gave a smile to his master's relaxed face as tears kept flowing through his cheeks.

With his head snuggled on his master's hand, he lifted the knife in his hand and aligned it to his throat.

With all the strength left in him, he stabbed his throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew... This chapter ended up being longer than I expected it to be. I was going to add even more scenes but deemed it unnecessary. Other than that, this was all for the flashbacks, we'll continue on with the actual premise in the next chapter. I can't promise any deadline but next chapter won't be this long so it'll probably come out sooner. Also I copied some of Regulus and Lye's dialogues from the witchculttranslations' page so the credits goes to them for the quailty dialogue between them.


	3. Natsuki Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

A gentle spring breeze was caressing the patches of grass and the bouquet's leaf on top of wooden stems. The slightly chilly wind was spreading the ordinarily dull but pleasant scent of the town. With the being sun already set, crickets were singing their chaotic yet soothing song. The night time was upon the town of Banan.

People of town were mostly done with their daily routine and were heading off to their homes to rest and prepare themselves for the next day's work. The town was just leaving another ordinary day behind as it did like any another day.

Nothing out of ordinary had occured in the past week and it seemed like it'll be the same for the days that will follow. Boring as it may be, many of the locals enjoyed their daily routines. Days always went smoothly and that was quite enough. Well, they made some chaotic festivals time to time but that of course was only an annual occurence.

In this, not always but mostly, quiet town; lived a family of the now almost extinct Oni race. The race that brought devastation to whoever they had contact with, including themselves. Luckily, the Oni blood somehow managed to find itself a shelter in one of the houses of the town. With 3 of it's 4 members carrying the Oni blood in their veins, a _demonically inspired_ family was residing here, blessed with a wonderful life. The Natsuki Family.

Of course the members of that house had their own respective roles in it. A brother, a sister, a mother and a father who is also the head of the house. And the head of this household was... an intresting man with unique qualities.

Nasty sanpaku eyes, long black hair that was tied on the back of his head, short legs, ...

Eccentric upheavals, unheard loanwords, energetic and cheerful attitude...

But a wide smile that hid behind the worst pain world had to offer, a past he wished to forget, faces of the people he knowingly left behind, the nightmares he every-so-often had about them, the wounds that'll never heal...

Natsuki Subaru had already decided he was saved. He was saved by the person he had grown to love the most in his life, Rem.

But can he forgive himself before it's too late? Can he close his wounds before his time runs out ?

* * *

In a house filled with appetizing scent of seasoning and fish, an afromentioned man with nasty but kind eyes was sitting on the ground. Supporting himself with his arms while leaning on thin air, he watched his wife finishing her own meal.

Subaru: 「Bah-... Sorry, I'm not glutton enough to keep eating this much food every dinner... But still, I *burp* enjoy your cooking so much that I'll force myself to finish it all every single time. I'd eat more if I had enough space in my stomach even!」

He proclaimed his passion for his wife's cooking while holding his slightly bumpy stomach.

Rem: 「Fufu~ I knew you'd manage to finish off all the food since it's one of your favourites.」

Of course, Subaru being a wife-con himself, never mentioned he preferred any of his wifes recipes more than the others. But luckily for him, Rem was quite the observer and she knew every detail about her husband's unspoken preferences. After cooking for him for years, Rem learnt to decipher the glint that Subaru's eyes'll get whenever he gets to eat one of his favourite meals.

Subaru: 「First of all, I have no specific 'favourite' meals. As long as it's my lovely wife is the one who made it, it's all gourmet food for me. Yes, they all are top-class luxury food!」

At least the second part was true. He had a favourite type of meal, the ones his wife had cooked. And he vowed himself to never be picky with Rem's cooking. He believed that was the best way to be a good role-model for the other members of the house too.

Of course in Rem's eyes, these were his usual chanting to mask his actual views on the matter. Subaru definitely loved some of her meals more than others. So she'll occasionally experiment with different recipes to find the optimal meals for his taste. She had went for a 'safer' or rather 'guaranteed' success today. Seasoned and grilled carps with mayo sauce was a bet she never lost before, including today. And the glint in Subaru's eyes proved her achievement.

While she was celebrating her victory in her mind, Subaru was getting was bothered with this constant showering of reward meals. So he turned the topic over to that point.

Subaru: 「And secondly, you shouldn't cook according to my preferences all the time. Spica and your opinion's matter too. Everyone should be included!」

Rigel: 「-...?」

Rigel: 「Did you just knowingly exclude me ?」

Subaru: 「Of course not. I just deemed it unnecessary to take your opinion about such trivial matters.」

Rigel:「But that literally means the same thing! You're just repeating after me!」

Subaru exactly knew how to tease his son using different methods. But practically repeating after him using different words was just one the methods he had under his sleeve. It was his duty as a father to tease his son to no end.

Which of course would make Rigel lose his temper and let his antics all out. It practically was the norm for him to end up losing his cool over these teases. But luckily, he grew quite accustomed to them so he usually managed to calm down before he gets in trouble for shouting around. Also, this topic was about his mom, not himself.

Subaru: 「Same thing or not, I want your mom to be selfish time to time so she can eat according to her own tastes. I'm spoiled beyond comprehension so I'll resist it as long as I can from now on.」

Rem: 「Rem's tastes huh ? Well, I'm fine with any recipe as long as Subaru-kun is also fine with it. Rem is already happy with this arrangement.」

Rem wasn't a picky eater unlike her husband. She'll be fine with any sort of meal as long as she gets to eat it with her family. So it was natural for her to deny the privilege.

Rem: 「Rem thinks she might even start to like mayonnaise if she keeps having pleasant memories with it.」

She winked at her husband and smiled to reassure him. Which definitely didn't get through him. The undertone also got slipped under the rag too.

Subaru: 「Are you actually listening to my point ?! I'm saying that my lovely wife needs to eat her favourite dishes time to time. Heck, I know that you don't like mayonnaise all that much. You shouldn't force yourself to eat it!」

Rem: 「I get what Subaru-kun is saying but I'm happy to eat whatever suits you, darling.」

She joined her hand together cutely and watched her husband's tantrums. This was the expression of someone content with the way things are.

Subaru: 「If that's the case, I'll be preparing the dinner tomorrow since I'll be off that day. And I'll make something you'll really enjoy.」

Rem: 「But Rem can cook just fi-」

Subaru: 「And I don't want any objections! I had already built up my resolve. Yes, I'm going to prepare something that'll make you lick your fingers.」

Subaru darted his eyes on Rem with a fiery determination. His eagerness surprised both Rigel and Rem but mostly Rem.

Rem: 「Fufu~ If Subaru-kun insists, Rem will look forward to it. But I bet you cannot surpass Rem on her main expertise. Rem had worked re~ally hard to perfect her skills afterall.」

Subaru: 「Is that so? Then the _bet_ is on! You better prepare yourself for what's about to come. Because I'll make something 10x more delicious than you've ever eaten!」

Rigel was still baffled about this sudden competition that rose out of nowehere. After watching his parent's back and forth, he knew things will go chaotic no matter what. It was unavoidable. And soon, this bet turned into a contest. His worst nightmare!

Rem: 「-Rem has ever eaten? Subaru-kun is now really challanging Rem's capabilities. Rem is not sure if Subaru-kun can live up to his claims. fufu~」

Subaru: 「If I pour my deepest of love into my dishes, I'll definitely surprass your expectations!」

Rem: 「Hmph... Rem has a better idea. Let's have a cook off!」

She declared with a determined expression on her face. And she pointed her finger towards her rival while smiling smirkly. Rem wouldn't usually act like this but something had clearly gotten onto her head. Maybe it was the desire to prove herself?

Spica started clawing her tiny hands with excitement upon hearing her mom's sudden energetic tone. Their invisible womanly connection was working in full-swing.

"She is even cuter when she's eager!" thought both Rigel and Subaru while looking at the beautiful blue haired contender in awe. Subaru felt happy to see her with such willingness.

Even after becoming a mother of two, she could still act childish and energetic like this. She still had it in her.

Subaru: 「Yup! We're doing a cook-off! _We're_ _clearly demonically inspired today!_ 」

Rem: 「Stop being silly. _Subaru-kun is always demonically inspired._ Now that's settled, Rem'll take care of the plates. I hope Rigel can help me with them too.」

She nodded to Rigel who was playing with Spica and watching over the dialogue during this time. Upon hearing his name being called out, Rigel turned his eyes to the one who said it. It was his energetic mom. She was being a little out-of character today but that was okay.

Rigel didn't mind it too much and nodded in response to his mother. He stopped playing with Spica and put her down from his lap. Then he rushed to help his mom after squeezing Spica's cheek one last time to get a giggle out of her.

Seeing the two dealing with the dishes, the coast was clear for the head of the Natsuki family. Subaru crawled towards Spica who was sitting on the ground and took her tiny figure to his lap.

The best way to have fun with her was of course a good tickling. So he gently tickled around Spica's neck and belly.

Spica: 「Fu- fu- baa~...」

The little girl started to laugh from all the tickling and wailed around. Subaru's intuition had worked.

He grinned widely at the cute sight in front of him and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Nothing could be cuter than a giggling Spica in his eyes. She'll definitely overthrow the current 1# in his heart in few years.

Subaru: 「Ahh~ You're truly going to steal the first place in my heart if you keep being this cute!」He exactly told what he was thinking at the moment.

He started to rub his cheek to hers with a wide smile while Spica giggled and made cute noises in response. The few facial hair that were on Subaru's face was tickly to her.

While he was playing with his daughter, a hard-working blue haired boy was throwing jealous glances at them. Seeing his dear sister being stolen from him was too much to handle and soon a noticable frown appeared on his face. Only a true sis-con can relate to such emotions.

Of course he was not the only one living through such a predeciment. A woman with tiny figure and similar hair colour was also throwing jealous but less frowny glances at them. She was hatching a plan to get her husband's attention rather then to just boil in her jealousy. Only a clingy husband-con can relate to such emotions.

After deciding what she should do, Rem talked to Rigel about her plan and both rushed the respective chores they had. All the dishes had been washed and ordered in a surprisingly short time.

After carrying all the dishes, Rigel washed his hands and went along with his mom's plan to snatch his sister.

He went up to his father, the thief, and gave his ultimatum.

Rigel: 「I think you've enjoyed Spica's cuteness enough for now. _Hand her over_.」

Subaru turned to Rigel while still playing with Spica's cheeks with a bewildered look on his eyes.

Subaru: 「Hand her over ?! You think she's some sort of household item we can just pass around ?」

Rigel: 「Of course not! But I'll save her from my horrible dad at all costs! So you've heard me, _give her._ 」

Subaru grinned at the sight of a Rigel trying to act like a masculine hero. He decided to play along with him.

Subaru: 「But I want to play a little mooooore.」

Rigel: 「Not happening! I won't lose my little sister to someone like you!」

Subaru: 「Hah! Over my dead body!」

Rigel smirked in return while listening to his response since he knew what was about to happen. Their success was guaranteed. He nodded with his chin to Subaru's back.

Subaru: 「Is there something wrong ?! Why are you making a poker face out of nowhere?」

He felt the breath of an unknown person on his neck, which was followed by an eery whisper.

[?: 「Subaru-kun became a little to greedy lately.」

He almost jumped from his spot upon hearing that ghostly voice. Thankfully his timid personality was held down with a cute girl's presence in his lap.

He turned around to see the owner of that voice and saw 2 blue eyes looking back at him. Appearantly, Rem had sneaked behind him while he was busy dealing with an eager Rigel and a giggling Spica in his lap. Thankfully, he was safe for now.

Subaru:「Y-You almost scared me there! Why would you do such a thing when Spica is in my lap? I mean it's not like I'd leave her behind or anything since we have Rigel as a scapegoat but still that was not safe!」He said jokingly while calimg himself down.

Too occupied with dealing with his shrewdly smiling wife, Subaru didn't realize Rigel had jumped in to the opportunity to snatch his sister from him. With the blink of an eye, Spica was stolen from his lap.

With his sister in his arms, Rigel went to the far edge of the room and started to play with her in his lap while smirking. The plan was a success on his part.

Subaru snorted at Rigel's victory then turned to his wife.

Subaru: 「It seems I won't get to play with my beautiful daughter today. Wait a second... Was all of this a part of your plan?!」

Rem: 「Of course not. Rem'll never play silly gwames with hwer husbwand~」

Even before finishing her senctence, Rem came closer to Subaru and planted her lips on her husband's cheek. Which of course, made both blush. Espacially Subaru who wasn't expecting such a gesture.

Looking at her from the corner of his eye, he could see her angel-like beauty from upclose. With her eyes closed, long blue hair hanging from her shoulders, Subaru analyzed and adored every bit of her beauty. "Am I supposed to be a man this lucky ?" he thought.

After few seconds, Rem's soft lips departed from Subaru's cheeks and she gave a smile for her yet another victory. She put her index finger on Subaru's lips and told him to pay her more attention next time.

Rem: 「Now that Rem has her darling's attention, she demands to be petted just like you do with other girls...」

She took her finger off of blushing Subaru's face and continued to look him with anticipation.

Subaru: 「Seriously, now? I thought Spica was an exception ?! But fine, if that's what you want...」

After getting his approval, Rem put her head to Subaru's thigh who began caressing her long hair with adoring eyes. Seeing a beautiful woman going to such extent's for him was a true blessing.

In the corner of the room a blue-haired boy was watching these events unfold. He sighed in relief after seeing it.

Rigel:「 Sheesh that was close. Thankfully they aren't acting explicit. We're safe for now.」 he murmured while taking his hands off of Spica's eyes.

Spica: 「Baaah... Waaa~」

Spica objected while pulling on his clothing. Well, she wasn't actually objecting to anything but Rigel interpreted it as such. He was the one who talked to his sister's soul after all so he didn't need words to understand her.

Rigel: 「Of course I know it. But they need to do it in private if they need to, which they don't. They keep embarassing me whenever they're outside too!」

Rigel was both proud embarassed about his parents. Especially his mother. She was an extremely beautiful and disciplined woman. But she had a soft spot for his dad, which Subaru always took advantage of to steal a kiss or so in public. Rigel was embarassed many times in front of his friends because of this reality.

Spica: 「Haaa... Gaaa~」

She turned to him with glowing wide-open eyes. She didn't quite get what he was saying but seeing him blowing off his antics made her excited too.

Rigel: 「Don't tell me you actually find it cute ?!」

Spica: 「Waaah~..?」

Rigel: 「No, I mean like... uh... whatever you're right. If it makes her happy I should endure it, is that what you're saying ?. Fine... Although you're the one who gave me the idea so if it blows on my head it'll be your responsibilty.」

Spica: 「Waaah~... Baaa~...」

After getting approval from his sister, Rigel decided to let them be for tonight. It seemed like they'll get even more snuggly by the second.

Rigel: 「Umm.. Dad I'm going off to deal with my homework. I think Spica is also feeling sleepy. Should I put her in her cradle?」

Rem: 「Uwm... Yes... Ywou shwould put hwer in th crawdle and do you homework.」she responded while yawning.

She gave another small yawn and opened her eyes slightly. She grabbed Subaru's hand which was stroking her hair and put it on her cheek to feel his warmth. So Subaru started to caress her cheek slowly instead. He had a big grin on his face showing his content with this posititon. It was always pleasant to pet his wife like a cat.

Rigel shook his head and grabbed his sister. He didn't want to be here for what might occur and didn't want Spica to witness it either. With his sister in his arms, he left the room.

Tomorrow they'll have a cook-off so probably he'll have to go out shopping with them.

So he should go to bed early to get more rest just in case.

* * *

Now, it was morning in the town of Banan. Adults were leaving their homes and heading towards their daily jobs after having breakfast. While the kids were free to do whatever they want since the schools were on holiday today. Kids like Rigel usually went out to play around in the holidays but it was still early an hour for that.

Having went to bed early, Rigel woke at an hour when it was still dark outside. He had to wait around for some time to let everyone else wake up. So he had read some books to pass some time but that was getting boring too.

Rigel: 「Pfff... It still very early to go out... What should I doooo?」he complained while lying down on his bed with a fallen book on his chest.

Rigel: 「I should check if mom and dad had woken up.」He darted out of his bed without making a noise.

First, he checked if his parents had woken up. After not hearing any noise from their bedroom, he creaked their door slowly and looked inside. It was inappropriate but necessary. He only saw Spica sleeping in her cradle quitely.

Rigel: 「So they've woken up.」 he whispered to himself.

Rigel: 「Then kitchen it is.」he slowly made his way to the kitchen.

When he got there, he found a slightly opened door with light shining through the gap. He walked to the door and decided to check inside. When he peeked through the door...

Rigel: 「-eek!」

He caught his parents kissing inside while both were leaning over the counter. Of course it was more like they were making out but to Rigel, it was just same as the other embarassing things they did. He instinctively backed off from the door to not interfere.

But to his demise, his shriek was heard by the ones inside. Rem turned to the door and lamented herself for forgetting to close the door.

Rem: 「Rigel?」she called to him.

Rigel: 「Uhh...」

Subaru: 「Oh, so he's already awake ?」

Rigel: 「Good morning... I just wanted to see if you've woken up but all I find is you doing nasty things. Seriously, please carry that to a private place!」

He declared his antics while getting back on his feet. His parents were troublesome as always.

Rem smiled at his rightful tantrum with a blush on her face. Subaru unwrapped his arms from around her and stood upright while smiling widely.

Subaru: 「Well, I guess you're right, Rigel. Also, I see you're an early bird today. Anything bothered you during night? Maybe a vampire came along and you had to chase it off?」

Rigel: 「I already slept well since I went to bed early yesterday. By the way, is the breakfast ready? I was bored before but now I realize that I'm both starving and bored.」he tried to change the topic.

Rem: 「It might take some time since Rem hasn't prepared anything yet. So you'll have to wait a little.」

She explained with a smile on her face. Even having newly woken up, she still looked like an beautiful angel. Rigel was mesmerized by her beauty but didn't want to stick around for long. He turned his back to them and walked towards the enterence of the house.

Rigel: 「Fine... I'll go walk around a bit to pass time. I won't be late, I promise!」

Rem: 「Sigh... But don't go too far away.」

Rigel: 「Will do, mom.」

He waved at his parents and took off from the house. With Kararagi style sandals on his feet and daily clothing he wore no matter the time of the day, he decided to walk to the pond near his home. Maybe he can find some animals to play around with. Playing with a duck or a cat might be a good way to pass some time since there were no other kids around at the time.

He decided to take the shortcut to the pond and wandered off the main road in front of his house and entered the nearby woods. After walking through some bushes and trees, he saw a clearing between the leaves. He kept making his away and finally arrived there. In the middle of the clearing, there was a pond with ducks swimming in groups in it. Along the coast of the pond, there was a gravel road with few benches scattered along it's path.

Rigel gazed around his surroundings to see if there were anyone else. He couldn't see anyone other than the ducks so it was safe to say he was all alone here. And he can just lay down and call the ducks over to play around without disturbance.

Rigel: 「Sigh... It's more fun to play with others but ducks are fun too I guess...」he murmured to himself.

He sat down and watched the ducks a little before calling out to them.

[?: 「You seem really enthusiastic about playing them, Rigel. But coming this early to play with them is a bit too obsessive.」

Rigel: 「Oh! Not really they are a bit-」

"Wait a second I know that voice." he thought and turned his face to see a hairy figure wearing a kimono with purple accents. The towering figure was looking down at him with narrowed eyes and a golden kiseru in his mouth. Rigel immediately recognized who it was and called to him.

Rigel: 「Uncle Halibel!」

Halibel: 「Yup that's me. Good morning Rigel, you're bit early-waker today. I thought all the kids would just lay around and enjoy their free time today.」

Rigel: 「Well, you see. I went to sleep early yesterday so I woke up pretty early.」

Halibel: 「That doesn't sound like the Rigel I know, but meh...」

He puffed his kiseru and took his gaze off of Rigel. He slowly ruffled the boys hair with his hairy hand and closed his eyes.

Halibel: 「Have you been living up to your training lately?」

Rigel: 「Of course! I'm feeling my strength improving by the day! I even jumped over a roof in one go yesterday!」

Halibel: 「Heh~ It's not polite to jump over people's roofs but I guess it's not my duty to scold you, Rigel.」He smiled and exhaled the herby smelling smoke from his mouth.

Rigel: 「I know but I was eager to test my capabilities. I won't bother people by jumping over their houses again.」

Halibel further ruffled the boys hair and nodded with approval.

Rigel: 「By the way, you've returned earlier than you said, Uncle Halibel. Are you done with your work?」

Halibel was a shinobi who dealt with the town's problems behind the scenes. He usually had to fight with nearby gangs and mabeasts that might eventually end up causing problems for the townsfolk. Rigel knew that Halibel bloodied his hands time to time as well but it was his duty and he was doing it for the sake of the town. So he had to accept him as he is.

Of course he also admired him as much as he was scared of his strength. Rigel sought to be as strong as his Uncle Halibel so he asked him to give him training to be a more skilled fighter. He could even help him deal with the criminals soon if he gets powerful enough!

Halibel: 「Well, my work ended up being easier than I thought so I came back early. I'll be sticking around for a few days at least.」

He explained his situation while chewing on the kiseru in his mouth with his wolf teeth.

Rigel: 「Ah that's great, Uncle Halibel! Can we train together today ?」

Halibel: 「Uhh... I said I'll be in town but I still have business to deal with. We can train together when I have free time.」

Rigel: 「I see. Can you tell me what it is? I can maybe help with my new found Shinobi qualities!」

Halibel: 「Well, I'll accomodate a few guests in the tenement houses. I need to keep them company I guess.」

Rigel: 「Guests... And you need to keep them company? Are they like nobles? Or very rich merchants? They must be very important people if Uncle Hal needs to protect them!」

Halibel: 「I'm not sure if they need to be protected but yes. They are rather important people.」

Rigel: 「Can you tell me who they are, Uncle Halibel ? Or am I getting too ahead of my self...」He wondered if he was asking for too much secretive information.

Halibel: 「Pfft- You wouldn't want to meet them I guess. Even I have my doubts if I can handle those guys properly.」he nodded while closing his narrowed eyes.

Rigel: 「Are they dangerous people ?! Are you really bringing criminals to the town ?」he asked timdily.

Halibel: 「Haha! Of course not! But I need to watch over them closely so I'd like you to _lay low_ for a while. You get that right?」

Rigel: _「Lay_ _low_... That sounds like one of my dad's fancy words. But okay I get it. We shouldn't bother them much.」

Halibel: 「By the way, is Su-san awake right now? I'd like to have a chat with him.」

Rigel: 「Dad's awake but I don't think you should go there now. Mom and him are probably doing-」

Halibel: 「Haha! Okay, okay I get it! You don't need to explain it further. It's not that urgent. I'll see him in a few hours then.」

Rigel: 「I meant they are doing the breakfast preperations!」

Halibel: 「Oh would I know, Rigel. So, I'll be off now. By the way, don't tell your dad about the information I just gave you. It's actualy a top-tier secret but I trust you'll keep it a secret.」he put his finger in front of his face to gesture him to keep quiet.

Rigel: 「Fine I'll keep it a secret. But are you leaving already? I could've shown you the new shinobi moves I invented! Oh but I guess you don't have much time...」

Halibel: 「Yes, I just wanted to say hi while passing by. See you then!」

Rigel: 「Bye, Uncle Hal!」

Halibel vanished from his view instead of just walking off casually. He entirely disappeared in the blink of an eye. Even if it was a basic stunt for him, Rigel always looked in awe whenever he pulled such moves.

Rigel: 「He's so cool.」 he murmured.

He waved his hand towards the swimming ducks in the pond to call them over. The domesticated ducks swam over to the blue haired boy upon being called.

Rigel: 「Let's see if they want to play around a bit.」

* * *

After playing with the ducks for a while, Rigel decided it was the time to go back home. It had been around half an hour and Spica may have woken up by now. While he was playing with the ducks, more people had came out to the streets and greeted Rigel as he made his way home. Thankfully, no one threw beans on his way.

After walking a bit, he was finally in front of his house. He could hear noises coming from inside the house and rushed inside to see what has happening.

The noises were coming from the kitchen. Upon entering the kitchen, he didn't know what to make of the scene in front of him.

His dad was sitting on a chair with an apolegetic face with his sister on his lap. Both had flour all over their bodies and they resembled discount ghosts or hollows, if you will.

His mom was scolding Subaru with an authoritarian aura around her. She was seemingly mad at his dad but also was trying to not laugh at the situation.

Rigel: 「Why... why do you guys have to be like this?」he quitely lamented to himself.

Noticing the boy's presence, Rem turned to Rigel and greeted him.

Rem: 「You see, Rem was in the middle of scolding your dad. Rem is really angry at him. And he needs to punished.」

Subaru: 「I didn't think we'll end up in such a floury situation though.」he cryingly said.

Rigel: 「I don't know if I want to learn what had happened here. I think the breakfast isn't ready either.」he said while scratching his head.

Subaru turned to the blue haired boy and answered his question jokingly, throwing his fake apolegetic face and returning to his naive expression.

Subaru: 「Well, it is almost ready actually. I can be made into a pancake if the necessary ingredients are given.」

He pointed at himself with a smile on his face.

Rem: 「You can't joke around with you dirtied clothes, Subaru-kun. Go out and shake off the flour on your body.」

With Rem pulling on his ear, Subaru hands over the giggling little girl to his mother and stands on his feet.

Subaru: 「Ouch... Okay- okay I'm going to do that! S-stop pulling my ear ow!」

Rem: 「Rem is really angry and will scold you further when you get back. Be sure to shake off all the flour on your hair too.」

Subaru gave a sigh and was let go of Rem's grasp.

Rigel: 「I-I don't want to ask...」

Subaru: 「Yeah... please don't...」

Subaru walked out with a defeat pose. Leaving behind Rigel, Rem and Spica.

Rem: 「Sigh... Rem needs to keep an eye on your father no matter what.」

When compared to his father, Rigel was definitely more mature. Subaru, being a man almost at his 30s, still acted childish and often got himself in trouble.

Spica: 「Waaah~ waaa~」

Spica started to strech out her tiny hands towards his big brother and called out to him.

Rigel: 「You need to keep him in check whenever he tries to do something stupid, Spica.」

Spica: 「Baa~」

Rigel: 「I know, I'm sorry. I won't ever leave you alone with father again. He really ends up causing a mess whenever he's left unattended.」

Rem: 「My, Rigel really seems more mature than his father. I'm glad not everyone in the house acts like him when left alone.」 she smiled at the blue haired boy.

Rigel: 「Right? It's hard to be any more stupid than him!」And Rigel realized that he made a grave mistake of his own. He used a nasty word in front of his mom. So scolding now awaited him too.

Seeing Rem throwing him a frowning gaze, he too got the short straw in the discussion.

Rem: 「Rigel.」

Spica: 「Maa~」

Seeing that Rigel too was about to be scolded, Spica leapt in to save his brother. She started to pull on his mom's hair and put her face to her mom's chest. Her voice seemed like she was about to cry.

Rem decided to let this one slip and tried to calm down Spica.

Rem: 「You won't be this lucky next time, Rigel. Rem won't let you off the hook so easily again.」she sighed to herself and tried to calm down the wailing Spica.

Rigel:「Ah, thank you...」he whispered to himself. He should pay Spica back for her sacrifice later.

Seizing the oppurtunity, he sneaked out of the kitchen and went back outside. There, he saw his dad shaking off the flour on him. Subaru called out to him and Rigel went there to listen what he had to say.

Rigel: 「I too almost got hit by mom's rage back there. Take some responsibility! How did you end up in a stupid situation like that ?!」

Subaru: 「I know ! But the flour painting Spica made was so good and I wanted to join in!」

Rigel: 「Painting? *Sigh* Whatever. What do you want to say?」

Subaru: 「I just wanted to give a proper "Good morning!" to you. So, good morning!」

Rigel: 「Yeah, good morning. Umm, I saw Uncle Halibel near the pond near the park.」

Subaru: 「Hal-san came back already? He must be a hard worker to finish it in such little time. But that doesn't sound like him. He usually does everything with a beer belly hanging in front of him and a sleepy mood.」he snorted at the image of the usual lax mood of his hairy friend.

Rigel: 「Yeah.. Actually no. He works really hard and his strength is the proof of that! Anyways, he said that he wants to see you.」

Subaru: 「Of course, he can come at any time! I'll gladly have a chat with him. Any other news?」

Rigel: 「Umm... Actually no. There isn't anything else that should bother your silly mind.」

Subaru gave a smirk and wildly shook all the flour on his hair to Rigel. Rigel backed off from the flour cloud and yelled at him.

Rigel: 「Stop, that's not funny! I don't want to shake off flour off of my cloth all day!」

Subaru: 「Haha! Okay, okay. You can go help your mom if you want. I'll be back in a moment.」

A grunting Rigel returned back inside to help his mom. "When will he get some 'common sense' ?" he pondered.

* * *

In one of the stone roads of the Kararagian lands, a modestly built carriage was making it's way west, to a town called Banan. A driver and 3 passangers were riding on it to get to their destination.

Driven by giant wolves called "Liger's", the carriage had no intriguing qualities other than the passangers inside it.

2 of the strongest knights of Lugunican Kingdom were traveling via the undistinguished vehicle. The Spirit Kinght Julius Juukulius and the Sword Saint himself. Both were legally not allowed to enter the Kararagian lands but this was an exceptional situation.

Accompanying them was a half-human supervisor. A tall woman with fox-like features. With her white fur and fox ears, she was remarkably cute. Wearing a well-made kimono with no appearent decorations on it, her sense of fashion was definitely bland despite her cuteness. And her slightly narrowed eyes and eery smile, which was hidden behind her red fan, made her more intimidating rather than charming. And she also was brimming with an authoritative aura around her. One could say that she was a true diplomat down to her core.

After gazing on the two men who sat at the opposite side inside the carriage, she called out to them to end the awkward silence in the room.

[?: 「I expected you two to be more much entertaining, nonetheless. You keep looking at the same direction, nonetheless. Why don't we chat a bit if we'll be here for a while, seemingly.」 Her voice feminine and alluring, she was talking with a distinct pattern of her own.

Reinhard: 「As may you already know, I don't get to leave my home country often. Watching the Kararagian daily life is an intriguing thing for me.」

[?: 「Well, there's honestly nothing special about their lives, nonetheless. Life outside of your country is mostly the same, nonetheless. Only difference is the trees, animals and the Wafuu architecture, seemingly.」

Reinhard gave her a small nod and shifted his gaze back out to window.

[?]: 「I'd like to further this conversation a bit, nonetheless. I hope I'm not being bothersome to you two, seemingly.」

Julius: 「Very well... What do you actually want us to do? Chattering with you is not an option, I might add.」

The purple haired knight asked her with a disintrested tone.

[?: 「This might sound like common sense but you can try to ask what my name is after we've met, nonetheless. You can talk about your plans for the future in front of you maybe. Or you can actually tell me what is Sword Saint trying to accomplish by visiting the town of Banan?」

Reinhard: 「I'm deeply sorry for the inconvenience we're causing you, miss. But our mission is significant and we'd rather keep it as a secret.」

Julius: 「*sigh* I prefer to keep our pursuit as secretive as possible. I hope you understand, miss.」

[?: 「Fine whatever. But can you sto~p calling me "miss", nonetheless. You can call me "Laura" instead, seemingly.」

Reinhard: 「Pardon our rudeness, miss Laura.」

Julius: 「*sigh*」

Laura: 「No conformation from you yet, Julius-san?」

Julius: 「Fine, Laura it is.」

Laura:「Hah~ Now that we've properly made acquaintence, I'll give you some instructions you'll have to follow. I hope you actually listen to what I'm about to say as your supervisor, seemingly. If you fail to comply, there may be dire consequences, nonetheless.」

Her smile behind her fan grew wider and she awaited their response. But after getting no feedback, she sighed and decided to continue her explanation.

First, she turned her narrowed eyes to the fiery haired Sword Saint.

Laura: 「Now there Sword Saint. Firstly, I need you to hand over your sword.」

Upon hearing her wish, Reinhard turned to her with a grimace. Only sword he carried with him was the Dragon Sword. Which could only be wieled by the Sword Saint. Even passing it around like it was a normal sword could make him lose his qualification and he'll never be able to yield it again. He was a disgrace to his title but surrendering the Dragon Sword would be outright spitting on it. So he answered her with reluctance.

Reinhard: 「Sorry. I'm not sure if I can do that.」

Laura: 「I'm serious right now. Hand it over. No questions.」

She repeated her demands with an unfaltering tone and looked at the Sword Saint with an assuring yet authoritative gaze. She awaited his response, which didn't came.

Laura: 「I hope you won't resist any longer. It might cause some trouble for both sides afterall.」

Seeing no other choice, Reinhard gave up from his cautious stance.

Reinhard: 「I understand... Here...」

He took the sheathed sword from his uniform and gazed his eyes on it for a bit. After sighing silently to himself, he slowly made his way to the eery woman with the sheathed sword in his hand and saw her gesturing on a piece of pink cloth next to her. Reinhard nodded to her and put the sword on the piece of cloth.

After examining the sword with her narrowed eyes, the woman gently wrapped the sword in the clothing and caressed the wrapped sword a little with her hand. "It's heavier than it looks" she thought. After getting Sword Saint to surrender his sword, she returned her eyes to the two and continued on with the conversation.

Laura: 「Now, by traveling through the Kararagian lands, you're actively breaking the "Reinhard Law", nonetheless. Letting you roam around with this thing would definitely cause wide-spread panic if it were to be heard, seemingly.」

Laura: 「You'll get it back after you're done with whatever it is you must do and return back to your country, seemingly.」

Reinhard gave a dreary nod to the woman and kept listening.

Laura: 「You two will be accompanied by a certain friend of mine. Although he can't do much about you two himself, he'll be in charge of your secret mission and you're to move accordingly to his commands, nonetheless.」

Laura: 「Don't be decieved by his naive looks since he's the strongest in Kararagi, seemingly. He can get quite serious when he sees a problem, nonetheless.」

Julius: 「He's the shinobi Halibel , right?」Julius asked while trying to connect the dots in his head.

Laura: 「You're quite fast on the uptake, Spirit Knight. I'm sure he'll try his best to help you with your misson.」She congratulated.

Julius: 「I hope so.」

Laura: 「Secondly, You'll have to be secretive about your identities, seemingly. Try to blend in as much as possible and don't alarm the locals. Of course, you also shouldn't slaughter them or cause any other kind of disturbance either. Understand ?」

Reinhard & Julius: 「Understood.」

Laura: 「I have to add that some might recognize you two but you shalln't worry. The town council had been notified of your arrival beforehand, seemingly. You won't be bothered by those who are aware of you, nonetheless.」

Laura: 「Also the town's enterence will be monitered and all entries will reported to Halibel during your stay. This sounds like a manhunt to me but who am I to make assumptions, right?」

She looked at their eyes to get a glimpse of their emotions. Sadly for her, both kept their eye contact and didn't flinch.

Both knights only nodded in approval to her and awaited her next instructions.

Laura: 「Once you enter the town, you'll be staying in your respective pre-determined rental rooms. I hope yo guys won't cause a mess for Halibel, nonetheless.」

Laura: 「Your expenses aren't on the house though, seemingly. So I hope you've brought some money along, nonetheless.」

She shaked the fan on her face a little. Waiting for a response to make sure they're listening.

Julius: 「I have brought some change money with me. Please continue.」

He tried to assure the woman without flinching.

Laura: 「Fufu~ Don't look at me like that while you're saying that, nonetheless.」

Julius sighed at that bothersome comment the woman had made and let her continue her explanation.

Laura: 「Thirdly, do not leave the town after you get there. You're not allowed to go sight-seeing as you wish, seemingly.」

Reinhard: 「Understood.」

Laura: 「And lastly, you won't be strolling in Kararagi for long. You are to leave the town in 10 days at most, seemingly.」

Julius: 「That sounds like a fitting deadline for out duty here. I hope we can finish our quest urgently and return back home to greet our-」

Julius realized he was getting a bit too ahead of himself and stopped mid-sentence. His anticipated tone was a bit piquant for the woman but she knew she had no chance to poke it further.

Laura: 「Hm~ Whatever it is you must do, it must be really important to you. So I hope you guys can accomplish it.」

A manhunt in a Kararagian town including two of the most powerful Lugunican knights sounded intresting to her. She definitely wanted to hear what'll come out of it. That is, if her assumption were to be correct.

Laura: 「Well, that's all for now, seemingly.」

She nodded while scratching the back of her ear and sighed.

Reinhard returned his gaze out the window but a little more anxious this time, still lamenting himself for his incompetence. Julius soon did the same on his side.

They watched the road as they passed by other carriages and sparce Wafuu style buildings.

They expected to arrive in Banan by tonight and the struggle will begin as soon as they set foot in town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No more stalling! The knights will arrive in town soon. Which Natsuki do you think they'll meet first?


	4. A Proper Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

In a tatami matted room, a man with nasty eyes was settled down in a kotatsu after having a pleasant breakfast. With his sharp eyes narrowed, jaw slackened and his body leaned on the wooden surface of the table, it was just Natsuki Subaru, enjoying his own company.

Yawning occasionally and playing around with a book in his hands, he was seemingly bored. His wife had gone out for groceries a while ago but he assumed she won't be back soon. He asked to go out with her but she objected, saying that he should get some rest on his day off.

As for his son, Rigel, he also went out with his mom to help with the shopping. It was unfortunate for Subaru, who'd've enjoyed teasing him to entertain himself.

Lastly, his daughter Spica was simply having a nap after having her meal. He was specifically told to not disturb her, not that he was cruel enough to disrupt her sleep.

With seemingly nothing else to do, his only option was to dig himself deeper in the warm kotatsu and enjoy it's comfort.

Subaru: 「*Yawn*」he put his hand over his widened mouth while loudly yawning. He felt all the muscle on his body tense up for a second and relax consecutively.

He could feel that taking a nap won't be hard, considering his sleepy mood after eating breakfast. So he put his head on his hands, which are on the kotatsu. When he felt like he was about to doze off, he heard a knock on the door, followed by footsteps. Slowly raising his head up, he called to the enigmatic intruder.

Subaru: 「Rigel? Rem? Is that you? *yawn* Or any one of you?」he said, while interrupting his own senctence with a yawn.

[?: 「Good morning Su-san. I hope I'm not disturbing you.」

Subaru: 「Hmm... That doesn't sound like the brats I know. So I guess you're Hal-san, right?」

He saw the enterence of the room sliding open, revealing a tall, hairy figure standing on the other side. Wearing a black kimono with purple accents, and a golden kiseru between his sharp teeth, it was his friend Halibel the Eternal Playboy, as he called himself.

Subaru: 「Good morning, Hal. Oh right! Rigel said you wanted to talk to me, although I wasn't expecting you to come so soon. But that's good. I'm getting very bored here, you see.」

Halibel: 「Hah~ I'm glad that I'm welcomed here.」

Subaru: 「Of course you are! Here, come in.」 he gestured to hairy figure to come in and join him in the kotatsu.

Complying with his friends request, the hairy figure joins in the comfort given by the blanketed table. Chewing on the unlit kiseru in his mouth, Halibel too soon relaxed along with his friend. Of course the dizzy Subaru couldn't decide if his kiseru was lit or not so he asked him.

Subaru: 「That kiseru on your mouth isn't lit right? You know it's probably not healthy for Spica.」

Halibel: 「Of course, of course. I don't want to get ravaged by Rem-chan's scolding afterall.」he smiled with his narrowed eyes.

Subaru: 「I definitely agree on that with you. I got hit by her scolding real hard this morning. It's awfully shocking for someone extremely cute like her to be that harsh.」his shoulders fell down as he lamented to the punishment he got this morning for the flour paintings he had done with his daughter.

Halibel: 「But assuming it's Su-san we're talking about, she definitely had some merit to her.」he laughed at his friends predeciment while mocking him.

Subaru: 「Aghhhh... You may be right. She has the right to shave off my flaws with her scolding.」

Halibel: 「Speaking of that, Su-san can you fetch me some sake if possible? I haven't been able have a good drink for at least half-a-day.」

Subaru: 「Wow... Are you feeling well Hal-san? If what you're saying is true, you should be spasming on the ground from withdrawal symptoms. Considering you're a frequent drinker, even in the bath house.」

Halibel: 「Well, I've had some this morning but that doesn't count for me. I didn't get to enjoy it as I was chasing after few people.」

Subaru: 「Haha~ But still, I can't let you drink inside. As you probably know, Rem has a very sharp nose. I'll get in trouble if I let you drink here.」

Halibel: 「Ugh... Then water'll do just fine. If I drop dead here from thirst, my race and the whole nation might be in danger.」

Subaru: 「Hey, don't say such stupid things. I doubt thirst will be the least dangerous thing for someone like you. Anyway, I'll be back in a moment so wait here.」he got up on his feet and went to kitchen to bring some water for his friend. After a few moments, he returned with a big cup of water in hand. When he was about to give it to his friend, the cup disappeared.

Halibel: 「*gulp*gulp* Gah! Thank you Su-san. Now I feel like I'm indebted to you.」he drank all of it in one go and slammed the cup on the table with a smile on his face.

Subaru: 「Wher- Ugh whatever. So...」he dumbfoundedly continued while still trying to piece together when did Halibel snatched the cup from his hand.

Subaru: 「You've returned earlier from you said. Those thugs simply gave up when they saw your Eternal Playboyness?」

Halibel: 「Well, my Eternal Playboyness is truly magnificent on it's own, but I rushed that job since I had other things I should tend to.」

Subaru: 「It must be hard being the strongest in Kararagi and all...」

Halibel: 「Well, it's not like I'm a one man army or anything.」

Subaru: 「But you have your clones right? So that makes you a literal "Eternal Playboy One Man Army".」

Halibel: 「"Eternal Playboy One Man Army"? Hah~ I like that too. I'll probably use that alias in the future.」

Subaru: 「Hey now! It's pretty awful when you embrace every nickname I give you!」

Halibel: 「Hah! How so?」

Subaru: 「Eternal Playboy is already disturbing as it is. And adding "One Man Army" to that makes it even worse.」

Halibel: 「I don't understand why you find it so disturbing but it's too late! "Eternal Playboy One Man Army" it is.」

Subaru sighed at his friend's disregard for his own reputation. He then lifted his head and offered Halibel a special offer.

Subaru: 「Anyway, since you're here I'd like to ask you to become a jury for tonight's cook-off.」

Halibel: 「Hmm... What's that?」

Subaru: 「I made a bet with Rem on who could cook the best food. Rem is a very skilled chef so my chances are slim but I won't go down without a fight. And for that, we need more people to act as juries.」

He clenched his fists with determination and awaited his friend's response.

Halibel: 「I see. But I'm afraid I won't be able to help you out on that, Su-san. I'll be very busy for the days to come.」

The rejection vitally hits his eagerness but Subaru manages to get himself back up after a short moment of silence.

Subaru: 「Well, that's bad but I'll find a way to make this contest fair.」

Halibel: 「I'm sure of it. Also, I'll be rooting for Rem-chan!」

Subaru: 「What's this sudden backstabbing?!」

Halibel: 「Rem-chan is really skilled and she's also cuter than you. So I have no other choice than to root for her.」

Subaru: 「Cuter than me?! I'm not even trying to be cute or anything! What are you taking me for ?」

Halibel: 「Hah! I assumed as such. Anyways...」his eyes fell down as if he was contemplating something in his head.

Subaru: 「Hal-san, are you ok?」

Halibel: 「Ah, yes. I'm totally fine. I was just wondering something... Something I need to ask you about.」

Halibel sulked at his place and took a deep breath. Subaru noticed the sudden twist and readied himself for whatever that'll be thrown at him.

Subaru: 「What's to sudden mood change about? I guess it's something serious. Go on, I'll try to answer whatever it is you want to ask.」

Halibel: 「I know you're not very comfortable with talking about it but...」

Halibel: 「Did you and Rem-chan... ran away from Lugunica before coming here?」

Subaru: 「-hk...」his breath got cut off from the sudden insight Halibel had given.

Halibel: 「I might be wrong about it but... you two seem to avoid talking about that place, especially you Subaru-san.」he called him with his full name, meaning he was being serious right now.

Halibel: 「I know that you're dealing with all sorts of people around the world due to your position at the Culture Promotion Center but it's also clear that you are reluctant to participate in anything related to Lugunica in general.」

Subaru was taken aback by the on-point remarks made by Halibel. He knew that Halibel was quite perceptive despite his lack-luster mannerisms. But he never imagined he'll go this far with his insights.

Seeing the uneasy expression on his friend's face, Halibel lamented himself for asking this question but he had not other choice. Because he'll get himself into Lugunican politics not matter how much he tries to avoid it. Making sure the coast was clear for his friend was the only thing he could do for now.

Halibel: 「I know you were living there before stumbling into Kararagi, so I need to know why you had to leave behind that place to come all the way here. I'm sorry if this inconveniences you but trust me, it's for your own sake.」

Subaru: 「I-I...」

Subaru felt like there were a pair of hands choking his throat, blocking his airway. He forced himself to spew out the right words for this situation.

Subaru: 「Me and Rem ran away because we had to... I had not other choice.」he said.

Halibel: 「I see... Do you have any criminal record there?」

Subaru was perplexed upon hearing Halibel's words. He was expecting a different type of accusation, not a criminal investigation.

Subaru: 「W-What? Me... a criminal record?」

Halibel: 「I mean if you had done anything that could get you arrested like robbery, treason, arson...」

Subaru: 「A-Arson?! Who do you think I am? Some sort of criminal mastermind? Of course I haven't committed any crimes.」

Halibel: 「Okay okay Su-san. I just needed to make sure. Don't worry I believe you.」

Subaru: 「Ah... That's good.」

Halibel: 「Hm...」his eyes fell back down as he got lost in his thoughts back again.

Subaru: 「But what's this about? You said you were here to just chat with me but it looks like you're here to do a inquiry.」

Halibel: 「It's always good to pay a visit to your friends and know them better. That's the Kararagian way I know.」

Subaru: 「That's not what I am asking you. Why is my past relevant to you after all the years we've known each other?」

Halibel: 「I get your confusion, Su-san. Basically few Lugunican officials will be coming to town so I wanted to ask if you're on terms with the kingdom. I'm sorry for such questions before telling you this.」

Subaru: 「Oohh.. I get it now. So you were just concerned about our well-being. That's the kind hearted playboy you are I guess.」he said with a small smirk on his face, trying to hide his anxiety.

Halibel: 「Su-san is my drinking bud afterall. Concerning about my dear friend is a top priority for an Eternal Playboy like me.」

Subaru: 「I feel kinda embarassed when you put it that way. But I also appreciate it. And do not worry. I believe that I'm clear with any and all governments in this world.」

Halibel: 「This world, huh. Oh right! "Japan" was it? I never heard of that place but you claim to be originating from there. So you were a troublesome person back there.」

Subaru: 「How could you make that conclusion after all that I've said? Do you need to hear it again? I-AM-INNOCENT!」

Halibel: 「Okay okay! I was just joking around.」

When they were continuing this conversation, light footsteps were heard from the corridor. Both Subaru and Halibel cut their dialogue to listen in to the loudening taps coming from other side of the door. The footsteps were accompanied with faint whisperings. It sounded like two women were having a secretive conversation.

When the tapping noises arrived at the sliding door of the room, whispers came to a halt and the tatami door slid open, revealing two gorgeous woman with grocery baskets in hand.

Subaru: 「Ah Rem, you've returned early! And you even brought Tia too?!」

Rem: 「Yes Subaru-kun. I've met with Tia-sama when I was doing the groceries. She helped me with the shopping so we could make it back earlier.」

Subaru: 「That's great. And here I was having a little chat with Hal-san to pass some time. He seem to have returned earlier than his regular schedule.」

Subaru gestured to his hairy friend with his hand. But in response, he got frowning looks from the white haired woman standing in front of him.

Tia: 「We knew it even before coming in here since he smells like a wet dog right now! For how long have you not taken a shower, -I will kill you-.」

Halibel: 「No need to kill me for that! I was going to go to the bath house after paying a visit to Su-san.」

Tia: 「You should make haste or else...」

Subaru: 「Does he really smell that bad? To me, he's doing just fine. Rem, tell me I'm not the only one with an inept sense of smell.」

Rem: 「I'll have to agree with Tia-sama on this. Halibel-sama should urgently take a bath before visiting us.」

Halibel: 「Rem-chan you too?! Ughh... I forgot you two had keen noses. Then I shouldn't bother you two all that much. Otherwise, I'll crumble under Tia-chan's murderous gaze.」

He nodded to himself and got up from his spot with a small sigh.

Halibel: 「Well, see you later then, Su-san.」

Subaru: 「Oh! Yes, yes. See you later. I'm sorry but they seem to be justified with their treatment.」

Halibel waved and made his way towards the door, passing by the two beautiful woman standing next to it.

Rem: 「Hal-sama, I am sorry for acting harsh towards you. But I hope you can come back to talk after cleaning off the filth on your body.」

Halibel: 「OH WHAT?! Those aren't the rude words you'll expect from someone like Rem-chan! *sigh* But she is very strict when it comes to hygiene I guess.」he said with a dampened face.

Tia: 「But you should really come after taking a bath, or I might kill you.」

Halibel: 「Uhh... I might not be able to. I have lots of serious business to deal with. I don't have much of a choice on that matter.」

Rem and Tia's faces fell as they heard Halibel's answer. There wasn't much they could do about it. Halibel had lots of responsibilities he need to tend to. Even though he slacked off most of the time, there's just no way around when it comes to his few obligations.

Knowing his circumstances, no one argued with him further. Instead they gave their friend their warm farewell and gathered under the kotatsu's blanket to share the warmth after placing down the groceries and washing their hands.

Subaru looked around and stared at the tatami door before turning back to his wife.

Subaru: 「I'm not seeing Rigel around? Is he still fooling around in the streets?」

Rem: 「His friends called him when we are about to enter the house. So he asked me to go and play with them.」

Her words were accompanied by a loud snort coming from a frowning white-haired woman.

Tia: 「Not even accompanying us into his own house, he truly deserved to die for being that rude!」

Subaru: 「Wa-wait! I'm starting to get worried about his safety now! I doubt that you'll kill him for that but it sounds like you had done something to him! Rem, he is okay, right?」

Rem: 「No need to worry about him, Subaru-kun. He's doing just fine. It's just that Tia-sama teased him a bit.」she snorted silently.

The frown on white-haired woman's face instantly turns into a smirk as she explains the situation in response.

Tia: 「His friends were getting mesmerized by my natural beauty so I gave him a giant kiss on the cheek to embarrass him. Hah! It was so fun seeing him go red as a tomato in front of his friends.」

Tia starts giggling as she recalls to the calamity of Rigel that happened few moments ago. It'd surely take him ages to recover from such humiliation.

Subaru: 「That's worse than killing that boy! But I'm glad he's doing fine. The genuinity of Tia's threats are so unpredictable. It's hard to tell if it's her usual blunders or a serious menace.」

Tia: 「Hold on a second! I am always genuine when it comes to my "usual blunder". So that also makes them a serious menace but I never act on them because I l-like you guys...」She said with a slight blush on her face.

Rem: 「Ah~ Tia-sama is so cute when she talks her heart out!」

Tia: 「I'm not trying to flatter anyone right now! Su-san just needs to be clarified! That's al- Uwaa!」

But her protests were dismissed as Rem grabbed both her hands and pulled her to a tight hug.

Rem: 「Tia-sama, I'm glad to spend so much time with you. Thank you for helping me today!」

Rem chaotically thanked her friend as she rubbed her cheek on Tia's.

Tia: 「*sigh* I don't know what the hug is about but I'll admit that I enjoy spending time with you too. Except for Rigel, he needs to reciprocate for all the care I give him!」

Tia exclaimed as she returned the hug. Seeing two beautiful women hugging each other in front of him, Subaru tried his best to suppress his male instincts.

Tia: 「Don't even bother. There's no hug for you! You're the one responsible for Rigel being such a meanie towards me!」

Tia puts her tongue out to mock on Subaru's shyness. Subaru shooks his head with embarassment in return.

Seeing this both women giggle and unwrap their arms from each other's waist and return back to their original spots.

Rem: 「Well, as much as I love him, he's actually not the good rolemodel he needs to be.」

Rem: 「So he's partially responsible for Rigel's demeanor.」

Subaru: 「Why am I to blame here?! I can't control everything he does! Only Spica can do that, and Rem to some extent.」

Rem: 「I thought that Rigel took me more seriously than "to some extent"?」

Subaru: 「Well, he does but he'll also jump down from a cliff if Spica asked him to. That bothersome sis-con brat...」 Subaru lamented to himself as he remembered how many times he was tricked into handing over Spica from his lap by Rigel's efforts.

Rem: 「He's truly wonderful when it comes to his loyalty to his sister. I just hope he won't end up marrying her in the future.」

Subaru: 「That'll be a disaster! Don't go running around with such dangerous thoughts!」

Rem: 「But he's also really handsome just like his father so he'll probably have many more girls orbiting around him in the future.」

Subaru: 「But we might need to do something about those scary eyes...」

Tia: 「Also having him run around the town to get hit by beans...」

Rem: 「I'm sure Rigel doesn't like it too much and may find it embarrassing but it's still his duty as a member of the Oni race.」she spoke out in Rigel's defence.

Subaru: 「I think we need to make him few sunglasses to hide his scary eyes.」

Subaru stated his solution with eagerness. The white-haired woman was baffled upon hearing the weird words Subaru spoke out.

Tia: 「"Songrasses"? What's that?」

Rem: 「Is that one of your brand new inventions ? Subaru-kun always knows about the most obscure things out there. It truly makes him wonderful!」

Subaru: 「But is that all there is to my persona?! I'm not just some crazy inventor with the craziest of ideas!」

Rem: 「No, it's just one of the many things that makes you wonderful. It might take my whole day for me to list them out for you.」

Subaru: 「Let's not go that overboard with praising me!」

Both blushed at each others remarks while giggling. Their conversation went on for few hours like this.

In the meantime Halibel had taken a shower and went to an inn just outside the town of Banan. There, he had been summoned to greet the new guests of town. Two of the strongest knights of Lugunica.

* * *

Inside an inn just outside the town of Banan, 4 people were sitting around a table in the corner of the salloon. There were few decorations on the walls, some with a merchant with diamond hands, some with popular goods produced in Banan and some depicting the landscape around the town. Looking around at the vast salloon, most of the tables were empty. The few other demi-humans inside were sitting at the bar, silently gulping down their drinks. All of them were wearing merchant's clothing and they were probably coming here to do business. Of course, this was a place where many trading deals were struck. But currently there were no loud negotiations going on inside the inn, just small whispers.

As for the 4 people sitting in the corner, they had just met outside of this inn and merely introduced themselves to each other. Nothing had been said other than formal greetings, their names and their respective occupation. After their short conversation, the woman in the group told them to follow her inside the inn to continue with their conversation, and now here they are sitting in a corner of the salloon.

A red haired man, a purple haired man, a black furred wolf and a white furred fox. All wearing bland Kararagian kimonos matching with their hair color, specifically chosen to make them blend in with the locals.

The black haired wolf had a golden kiseru in mouth, occasionally puffing out a herby smelling smoke, the white fox with a closed red fan in her hand, the two humans sitting with their arms crossed were patiently waiting for the demi-humans to end their whispery conversation.

Reinhard examined his surroundings before reverting his eyes back to the others on the table.

Reinhard: 「I do not understand why we'd have this conversation at such open space...」asked in bafflement.

Julius: 「I also prefer discussing in a more suitable environment...」Julius snorted and gave a small smile. Of course, it was out of confusion rather than amusment. He didn't see himself as some high noble or anything for that sense but still, a merchant inn is an _intresting_ choice.

Hearing their objections, the white furred fox turned her face away from her black haired peer and answered with sympathetic tone.

Laura: 「Being ve~ry direct,nonetheless. After such long journey, I thought sitting in a place like this would help you relax a bit, seemingly.」

Reinhard: 「I see...」

Laura: 「But you have some merit to your objections since bringing you two to such unsightly place isn't the proper diplomatic approach.」

As for being a diplomat, her duty was to provide the right conditions to carry out negotiations for her clients. If not possible, then she could take responsibility to ease their outcries. That was the way she saw her duty as.

Julius: 「It seems there is a misunderstanding, Miss Laura. I'm only concerned about the contents of our upcoming discussion being leaked. As for this place, I appreciate the soothing ambience in here.」

Halibel: 「...」

Halibel puffed some herby smoke out upon hearing Julius' consoling. Sides of his wide wolf mouth curved upward and he lifted his head to face others in the table, his eyes gazing at the two knights.

Julius: 「Halibel-sama, is there something you'd like to add?」

Halibel: 「I believe Laura definitely has some reason to choose this place. So I'd like to hear it too.」he chewed on his kiseru.

Laura: 「I know you've grown quite cold toward me but it seems I haven't lost your trust yet. So that's pleasant to hear, seemingly.」

Laura: 「As for why I chose this place, that's simply because I was instructed to, seemingly. I believe my superiors made preperations for us beforehand. It's actually sad for me to not be in charge in any of this, nonetheless.」Her ears and face fell down in disappointment. Reinhard tried to make up for his rudeness by apologizing, which was ignored by Laura.

Reinhard: 「So Miss Laura has no saying in that matter. I see, we're sorry for our rudeness, Miss Laura.」

Laura: 「What you've said wasn't anything near rudeness, Reinhard-san. You have all the right the question this situation as you don't have much of a saying on it either, seemingly. We're really similar.」

Halibel: 「Hah! Then why act like you've planned out this for us? Don't tell me-」

Laura: 「I indeed have planned this gathering beforehand! But there wasn't much room for me to make changes in the schedule.」

A frown grew on her face as she gave her answer to Halibel's mock. This situation was already shameful as it was. So Halibel poking it made her seemingly angry.

Laura: 「When a mediator is tasked with carrying out a negotiation, they'll usually be the side to show leniency themselves. But I am nothing more than a mouth for my superiors to get their point across, seemingly.」

She opened up her fan to hide her frown behind it and continued on with her rant while shaking the red fan in her hands.

Laura: 「They'll instruct their staff to their heart's content, thinking they know any better than the ones who're directly involved with the situation.」

Halibel: 「Okay, okay. Now I agree this task'd be one hell of a challange for every single diplomat out there but badmouthing your employer is umm...」

Laura: 「I'm sure they're used to being badmouthed, seemingly.」

Halibel: 「Clearly, but there seems to be a disconnection between them and their subordinates...」

Laura: 「That may be partially true but I am in no position to whine about it.」

Seeing two of them returning back to their pointless discussion, Reinhard jumped in the conversation to intervene.

Reinhard: 「Uh... I feel like we're deviating from the actual reason for why we've gathered here.」

Halibel: 「Rein-san, I get your concerns but should we eat before moving on to that? My mind goes blank when I'm hungry. Laura can calm down while we're at it too.」

Halibel reached his left hand to pet Laura's head with a smirk. Seeing his gesture, Laura's eyes narrowed and she swung the red fan in her hand towards his arm.

The red fan left a fiery string along it's path on the air. It emanated noticable heat which soon dissipated. Few seconds after, the fiery string disappeared too, leaving a slight trail of smoke.

If not for Halibel's extraordinary Shinobi skills, his severed arm would be laying on the floor right now.

Julius: 「Miss Laura, please calm down!」

Both knights were taken aback by the sudden hostility shown by the fox-like woman. So they readied themselves to jump into action in moments notice.

Halibel: 「Ow~ ow... Calm down! I really need to keep that arm y'know! Although if I were to actually get hit by something petty like that, I'd no more be a honoured member of my race.」

Halibel's snorted at the frowning face of Laura. He then turned his face to the two kinghts who were waiting to get into action.

Halibel: 「Now now... You don't need to look at our little bickering like that. I'm used to Laura being like this. She always acts wild despite her cute face.」

Laura: 「Sheesh... I'm not your pet or anything. And I'll get serious if you try that again, seemingly.」

She saw Halibel snorting at her face and shook her head in response. She then realized they've been wasting time like this for a while and offered to have a meal together.

Laura: 「*sigh* But I agree we should get something to eat, nonetheless. This also may be an opportunity for us to get to know each other better.」

Reinhard: 「Well, if your appetite really has reached that point...」

Julius: 「We should get something to eat too, right Reinhard?」

Reinhard:「Julius...」

Julius: 「I understand that this is not convenient for both of us, but we should compensate for their goodwill. The situation is already burdensome for them as it is.」

Reinhard: 「If that's what you wish...」

After getting approving nods from the knights, Halibel called to a waiter with a friendly tone. When the waiter arrived at their table they all ordered modest meals except for Halibel, who ordered twice as much food for himself.

Laura: 「You seem to have an exceptional appetite today, Hal. Have you been starving lately, seemingly?」

Halibel: 「I couldn't find these hambulgars they serve anywhere in the town. Might as well fill my stomach while I'm here.」

Laura rolled her eyes at the bland response she got from Halibel.

Laura: 「Well, the bill's on you, so I might open up some holes inside your pockets while I'm here, nonetheless.」

Julius: 「That might be a little too reliant approach to Halibel-sama, though...」

Laura: 「You think so? I doubt he'll dare defy my wish, right Hally?」

Halibel: 「*Hmpfff*」

Laura: 「What's that sudden reaction, seemingly?」

Halibel: 「*Ahem* What did you *ahem* just call me?」

Laura: 「Hally, seemingly.」

Halibel: 「*hmpfffff*」

Julius: 「A curious nickname to give someone like Halibel-sama..」

Julius bowed his head slightly to hide his bewildered but amused smile.

Halibel: 「Well, I already have an alias to my name. "Eternal Playboy" that is.」

Reinhard: 「That's quite the intresting nickname, Halibel-sama. Does it have a meaning? It's unlike anything I've heard before.」Reinhard asked with a piqued intrest as he heard the nickname.

Halibel: 「I think it means something cool but I never bothered to investigate it's actual meaning.」

Julius: 「So it's made up?」

Halibel: 「Not quite... Ah, whatever let's forget about it. And don't ever call me Hally again!」

Laura: 「Rest assured, Hally. I won't call you like that again. If you play fetch with me, that is. Then I can call you _"my dear_ Hally".」

Halibel: 「You prick...」

Laura snorted back at the black haired wolf sitting next to her. Halibel chewed on his kiseru with a hint of rage in him and the other two knights shook their heads with a smile on their faces.

Despite being the strongest fighters of two rivaling countries in this world, they somehow managed to be on friendly terms with each other from the start. Both sides hoped that it'll go smoothly during their stay.

* * *

After having their meals, their conversation went on as normal. The three males in the group kept talking about the traditions, politics and economics while the white furred woman kept silently humming to herself in the corner.

Reinhard, Julius and Halibel seemed to get along surprisingly well, mainly thanks to Halibel. He managed to keep the conversation going by changing the topic every so often. At first, the two knights were simply responding to Halibel's endless questions but after a while, they started to open up to the hairy wolf in front of them. Their chat slowly took off and soon, the topic had came to festivals and celebrations in Banan.

Halibel: 「-And so that's why we all have these bean trade going on in Banan.」

Reinhard: 「It sounds like a very intresting tradition. When are these festivals made? Since you've brought up the topic, I assume it'll be celebrated soon.」

Halibel: 「Oh you're actually intrested in participating? You'd be free to join in with the fun if it were to take place. But the festivals are arrenged under the guidance of Kararagi Culture Promotion Committee. And as far as I know, they won't be holding such an event soon.」

Julius: 「*Sigh* I'd have spared some of my time to join in. It's always nice to participate with traditional events. Although we haven't had them for a while in Lugunica...」

Julius's eyes fell down as he tried to remember the last time such an event was hold in Lugunica. What he remembered was the loss of public intrest in the celebrations. After the candidates to the throne of Lugunica had fallen, the country was left to be ruled by the Wise Man Council. Without a covenant with the Holy Dragon Volcanica, what is there to be celebrated? Even more so when there are various illegitimate bidders to the throne, fighting and tearing the country apart.

He recalled to a woman with purple hair, whose existence is nothing more than a distant memory by now. He remembered her speech in the Royal Castle. She told everyone about her greed, how she wanted something more than commercial success, a country to rule. _Had she won the royal selection, would it be preferable to the current situation?_ Definitely, yes. _Had he been by her side in the cursed sand dunes of Auguria, will she be alive now?_ Maybe. But it was _his fault_ she had gone missing. It was his fault that she starved to _death_ in the sand dunes. It was _his fault as her knight_.

Halibel realized the dread on Julius' eyes becoming deeper. So he called his name to snap him out of his current state.

Halibel: 「Jul-san, are you feeling well?」

Julius shooked his and answered to Halibel, saying that everything was alright with him. But he later realized that Halibel was not the only one concerned for him as he saw the worried looks on Reinhard's eyes.

Reinhard: 「The bad memories again?」

Julius: 「That's not it. I just spaced out for a bit.」

Reinhard: 「There seems to be more to it than just spacing out.」

Julius: 「I understand how it looks but that's really all there is to it.」

Halibel: 「Hah, that's not so nice to hear...」

Halibel sighed and puffed another cloud of herby smoke from the side of his mouth. Soon the purple haired knight managed to return back to his normal state and assured everyone in the table of his wellbeing.

Seeing this, everyone relaxed and Halibel decided to continue on with the topic. More careful to not poke on their wounds this time.

Halibel: 「It's really unfortunate for us then. But thankfully, our Onis won't be bombarded by the world's fastest beans thrown by Rein-san. We don't have enough healers here to deal with that many injured.」said jokingly.

Reinhard: 「Halibel-sama, if you're referring to me I want to say that I won't overdo the bean throwing part. Beg me pardon if I'm giving off any intimaditon unawarely.」 answered with a rather dampened smile.

Julius: 「Heh...」

Reinhard: 「You seem to have your suspicions, Julius.」

Julius: 「No, I'm just amused to see you being apologetic after hearing such blatant jokes. It's hard to believe even after knowing you for so long.」

Halibel: 「Rein-san seems to take everything I say to heart, even though I'm saying them as friendly jokes. You might need to change that attitude if ya're gonna try to survive here.」

Reinhard: 「That sounds about right, Halibel-sama.」

Halibel: 「You can just call me Hal. Same goes for Jul-san too.」

Reinhard : 「Oh...」

Halibel: 「Even if our fateful meeting is a mere miracle, we can still think of each other as close friends.」

Reinhard: 「Then I shall refer to you as Hal-san from now on.」

Halibel: 「That's good to hear. You may get on my nerves less frequently if you keep that up.」

Reinhard: 「Hmph... I assume that was another joke of yours, Hal-san.」

Halibel: 「Now you're getting the hang of it.」 Halibel laughed at the way Reinhard anxiously tried to keep up with his friendly battering.

While they were having their friendly back and forth, the white furred woman in the corner was still humming to herself with closed eyes. After nodding to herself, she opened her eyes back and gave a loud sigh. Her expression seemed relieved.

Seeing this, Julius called to her to make sure if everything was alright. She had been sitting there silently for some time afterall.

Julius: 「Miss Laura?」

Laura: 「Oh I'm sorry, seemingly.」

Laura apologized with a timid tone. She then shook the red fan in her hand and reverted back to her default expression.

Reinhard: 「Miss Laura seems to be bothered. Perhaps it has something to do with her silent humming?」

Laura: 「You can hear it, nonetheless? Ah, I may have underestimated you, seemingly.」

Reinhard: 「I don't understand what should I be hearing other then your humming, Miss Laura.」

Laura: 「Ah... I was just getting new orders from my employer, seemingly.」

Julius: 「So that humming was about...」

Laura: 「You're right, nonetheless.」

Laura admitted that she had been making contact with others while they were chatting between them. The seemingly innocent humming was clearly more than just a white noise.

Halibel: 「So that's why you were keeping silent. And your orders are...?」

Laura: 「My job here is done, seemingly. I shall be taking my leave now.」

Halibel: 「What's that suddenly? We just finished our meals and haven't got to the serious part yet...」

Laura: 「It's clear that they'll stalling be the topic as long as outsiders are nearby, nonetheless.」

Laura: 「And I seem to fit into that category.」

Laura turned her eyes to the two knights while hiding her eery smile behind her fan.

Reinhard: 「I sadly cannot deny those remarks, Miss Laura. We already spoke that it's more preferable for us to carry out the serious topics in secrecy.」

Hearing that his friend was about to leave, Halibel sighed and apologized for troubling her.

Halibel: 「Sorry ousting you like this, Laura. I'd prefer if you stayed with us for longer though.」

Laura: 「I hold no resentment, seemingly. As I said, my efforts needn't to be compansated as I'm the side to show leniency. Besides...」

Her eery smile grew as she remembered all the details she picked up during their conversation.

Laura: 「I got some insight to this situation by spending some time with you people. My curiosity has been satiated well enough, seemingly.」

Halibel understood that she managed to piece together a broad picture as to why the two knights appeared in this town.

Halibel: 「It's clear that you can picture out what's happening here from the looks in your eyes...」he shook the golden kiseru in his mouth by moving his lower jaw.

Laura: 「That'd be an overestimation of mineself's capabilities, seemingly. Although, I wish all of you a good manhunt.」

 _A manhunt_. She managed to pinpoint what they were here for by silently hearing their conversation on random topics? Or she may have just read thier minds, although Reinhard'd have probably took notice if that was the case. Even being tipped off by her superiors was an option. Her capabilities were still unknown to them.

Laura: 「You should be heading toward the tenement houses soon, seemingly. Sun's about to set outside.」

The white haired fox got up form her chair and gave a waved goodbye, leaving the puzzled men in the table alone.

Having been figured out so easily, the knights wondered if it was worth to bother themselves with keeping their mission secret in the first place. Probably not, as it wouldn't change much if she were to get an insight to their task earlier.

Reinhard: 「*sigh*」

Julius: 「We seem to be figured out... Quite amazing. She made similar guesses in the carriage before but now, there weren't any doubt in her words.」

Halibel: 「I wish I had told you about her being someone to be reckoned with from the beginning.」

Julius: 「We can only hope for her to not spread the news...」

Halibel understood their concerns and responded to give some relief.

Halibel: 「She's clever enough to not do something like that. Well, that was the impression she gave when we spent more time back in the day.」

Halibel said with a nostalgic tone in his voice. Seeing this, the two knights asked his relationship to her with piqued intrests. Halibel seem to be rather close with that woman, enough to be able to irritate her in front of strangers.

Reinhard: 「It was enjoyable to see you two getting along very well. I assume you've known each other for quite a long time, just like me and Julius. So, how far does your history with her go back, Hal-san?」

Halibel: 「Well, we've spent some time back in the day. But there's not much to our relationship.」

Halibel tried to cut off that line of questioning by making it seem unintresting, which hadn't worked on the curious knights in front of him. Julius kept pushing for answers.

Julius: 「I hope you won't leave us hanging in the air with a vague answer, Hal-san.」

Halibel: 「Fine... Laura and I were from neighbouring villages. We often played in the nearby forest together.」

Julius: 「Childhood friends, huh? Strongest friendships are made during that time period afterall. It's not surprising to see you getting along after such a long time.」

Halibel: 「I haven't seen her for some time. But it took me just a single hour to get under her skin again.」

Julius: 「Or she just lets her guard down around you...」

Reinhard: 「Agreed. And she wasn't as cheerful back in the carriage. It must be because of your influence on her, Hal-san.」

Halibel: 「Is that really so? Could it be that she was just intimidating you two?」

Julius: 「I guess not. Her behaviour was more straightforward back then. She seemed to be taking her time here.」

Halibel: 「Wait a second! You two seem to be implying something. Am I supposed to be reading between the lines here?」

Reinhard: 「We're just stating our observations, Hal-san.」

Halibel's face fell down for a second and he chewed on his golden kiseru to stimulate the gears in his head.

He recalled to their meal and realized Laura seemed to be more tolerant towards him than other people. Most people would be dead on the spot if they tried to pet her head or mock her. But he was just let off the hook. That was way too generous for someone like her.

Julius: 「It's disrespectful for me to say this but I think she's giving you special treatment. That's a clear indication of romantic intrest.」

Halibel: 「Heh~ I'm glad to hear but she's way, waaay out of my league, just so you know.」

Reinhard: 「I'm also glad for you, Hal-san. Your luck seem to be off the charts. Is this what it means to be an "Eternal Playboy" ?」

Reinhard gave an out-of-character cheeky smile to his hairy friend. Julius followed suit with a loud snort and put his fist to his mouth to hide his laugh.

Halibel: 「-ghk... You're not the one to say that with that face...」

Halibel sulked at the unexpected mock coming from both sides. He told them that it was okay to mock each other on friendly terms, so he had to eat it all up here.

Halibel: 「We should get going too...」

Halibel got up from his chair and went to pay for the meals they had. To his surprise, the cashier rejected his payment, saying that the woman had paid for them before she left.

Gritting his teeth, he called to the knights to follow after him. The two knights complied and followed him out of the inn while trying to hold their laugh.

* * *

A fresh breeze hits the knights' faces the moment they leave out the inn's door. And now, they could realize just how much they got used to the inn's stifling air. Being released from the building's choky atmosphere, they breathed as much fresh air as they could. Of course, the influx of oxygen caused some dizziness but it was still enjoyable.

Shaking their heads, they turned to each other and waited Halibel's next order for them. Similar to soldiers in a battlefield. Of course, Reinhard was a soldier without a weapon and Julius wasn't in a good position either as he was a foreigner in this land.

While they waited for him, Halibel gazed around his surroundings with narrowed eyes. The sun was slowly setting behind the mountains and the air was getting darker. They should hurry if they want to make it to the tenement houses before night.

Returning back to his companions, he realized the serious look in their eyes, eager to follow orders like mindless pawns. At least, that was the impression he got from them. "Is this what being battle-hardened means?" he mused to himself as he remembered all the news of the Sword Saint running from one side of Lugunica to another to suppress riots and how many rebellions were harshly extinguished by the royal knights of Lugunica. The dead-panned look on their eyes reflected all the bloodshed they witnessed, all the suffering they endured hidden behind their broken smiles. They weren't the friendly people he just had a meal with. They were just soldiers.

He gazed on them with his narrowed eyes, seeing the stony expression on their faces, he sighed loudly and told them to stop acting like that, as it may scare off the locals of the town.

Halibel: 「You don't need to keep up that attitude y'know. You two aren't my hired mercenaries or anything like that. I'm just here to help you with your mission.」

Halibel: 「So think of me as your tour guide.」

Julius: 「Tour guide? The name is somewhat self-explanatory but still to vague...」

Halibel: 「It's something new the Cultural Promotion Committee had came up with. It's a type of job where you show around the town to tourists.」

Halibel: 「So I want you two to relax for now. You're not soldiers here.」

Hearing his words, the two knights relaxed their tensed bodies and returned to their former attitude. But still, a hint of seriousness was left in them. Reinhard speak up about his concerns. He opened his mouth and called to the black haired wolf.

Reinhard: 「Then can we ask anything we want from the tour guide?」

Halibel: 「Yes, why not? That's my job afterall.」

Reinhard: 「I'd like to ask you to be more serious about our mission here. We're here to hunt down someone who poses severe danger to the Kingdom of Lugunica.」

Halibel: 「It may not look like it, but I'm taking this serious as much as you do. Your presence here is no joke so I'm constantly on the edge.」

Julius: 「I don't know if I should, but I'm glad to hear that. So please act accordingly to your judgement, Hal-san.」

Halibel: 「Hah~ If you'll ask me to give an army salute or something like that, then we'll be having some issues. I usually handle dangerous situations in my own way afterall.」

Halibel: 「And I'm aware of my responsibilities so...」

Halibel: 「Let's continue this when we get to the tenement houses.」

Halibel waved at them to follow him to the town. Two knights nodded with their heads and walked their way after him.

Reinhard kept looking at the Wafuu style buildings while Julius simply set his eyes ahead of him. "We should be reaching there in around 15 minutes." he calculated the distance from the town. He stratched his head while planning a course of action for the coming days ahead of them.

"How the hell are we supposed to find a single witch cultist in such a bustling town?" he thought while watching the numerous carriages passing by their side on the road.

* * *

The three man wearing bland kimonos were standing in close proximity to each other. After entering the town, they decided to take their time and stop by at the town's market before going to tenement houses. They were late for the prime time for shopping but maybe they could get an idea about the livelihood in Kararagi. Knowing the streets better may help them in their future endeavours. At least that's how they justified their curiosity.

Despite sun being about to set, the street vendors were fiercely racing each other to sell out all the leftover goods in their hands. They occasionally called out to the pedesterians in the road, offering them absurd discounts on the vegetables and such. Although, mostly the foolish fell for their sweet lies and bought their trash. Among them was Reinhard, who was checking fruits he had never seen before.

Reinhard: 「Hello sir, do you have a moment?」

Vendor: 「Ah... Sorry sorry! I-I'm here. How can I help you?」 The man rushed from the other side of his stall to help out his customer. Although when he gazed his eyes on the red haired man in front of him, he felt somewhat anxious. He didn't know why but this man had an intresting aura to him, one he couldn't identify. "But he's still a customer." he thought.

Reinhard: 「I assume these are some sort of fruit. Can I ask what are they called?」

Vendor: 「Ahh... I can tell you're a foreigner from your accent sir, but that's none of my business of course. And these are called "loquats". They taste somewhere between sour and sweet. You can try one of them if you want.」

Reinhard: 「Can I really? That's really kind of you sir. Then I shall have a taste.」 He reached his hand to one of the yellow fruits on the front row and ripped it off from the bunch it was connected to.

It tasted sweet. But felt like it might leave a sour taste if eaten in large quantity. "I've been missing out on this delicacy huh?" Reinhard thought while enjoying the fruit. He decided to buy some so that Julius could have a taste too.

Reinhard: 「Can I have... two bunch of these loquats?」

Vendor: 「Of course. But these are categorized as exotic, so they'll come at 12 coppers a bunch. Let me pack them for you sir.」

Vendor lowered his head under the stall and got himself a bag to put the fruits in. When he reached his hand to one of the fruit bunches on the back, he was interrupted by a cautious Reinhard.

Reinhard: 「Sir, can I choose the bunches to my own liking?」

He was using his Divine Protection of Evalutation to detect the quality of each and all loquats on the stall. The ones in the front were of better shape compared to the ones in the back. When he saw the vendor was choosing lower quality fruits from the back row, he simply decided to intervene.

Vendor: 「O-Of course... I'd pack the ones that fits to your liking, sir.」

Vendor puts the bunch in his hand down and grumpily gestures him to go on.

Reinhard thanked the vendor and gazed his eyes on the stall. He chose two bunches of high quality, but didn't took the best ones to be fair.

He handed the bunches in his hand to the vendor and watched him cut the sides of them to fit them in the bag. While he was doing so, he pulled out two sacred coins from his purse.

Vendor: 「Is that... oh I cannot accept foreign currency due to my contract with town's merchant guild. You see, I'm only allowed to run my business with Kararagian coins. It's quite a bothersome arrangement but this ban was deemed necessary by the town's council.」

Reinhard: 「Ah... I'm really sorry. It seems I forgot to visit an exchange office after arriving.」

Vendor: 「There should be one on the main road over there. But you'll have to walk some distance to reach it. You're still lucky since that's the only one in town and it opened just a month ago. Assuming that you won't bow before those damnable usurers, you would be penniless if you came here before then.」

Reinhard: 「Huh? Then I'm glad to hear it.」

Vendor: 「Also, I don't have enough money in hand to pay your change if you intend to use those coins. But generously given tips are always welcomed around here.」

Vendor gave a small smile to the red haired man in front of him, his gesture was returned with a friendlier smile from his customer.

Reinhard: 「That's fine. Monetary possessions hold no value for me. It's better to act charitable by seizing the opportunity.」

After declaring his rather generous views on the matter, he checked around him and saw Julius and Halibel checking one of the souvenir stands on the other side of the street. After confirming their proximity, he turned his eyes back to the vendor in front of him to continue.

Reinhard: 「I'd like to ask you to hold on to that bag for me, sir. I'll come back to buy them soon.」

Vendor: 「Alright, alright. But don't keep me waiting here with this all this fruit in hand.」

Reinhard nodded with his head began walking towards his two companions to let them know about his little trip to the exchange office.

Halibel: 「Are you done with your shopping, Rein-san?」

Reinhard: 「Currently not. I need to visit the exchange office on the main road.」

Julius: 「That's not necessary as I can lend you some money if you need it.」

Reinhard: 「I appreciate it, Julius. Still, I'd like to meet my own needs myself. It may also be a chance for me to learn more about this town.」

Halibel, who was standing next to them, chewed on his unlit kiseru and joined in the conversation.

Halibel: 「I will not stop you as your tour guide. You can do as you wish, Rein-san.」

Reinhard: 「Hal-san is a truly reliable person. Then I shall be back in few minutes.」

Reinhard smiled and assured them of his haste.

Halibel: 「But it'll be very crowded in there. You better not get lost, Rein-san.」

Reinhard nodded and waved them goodbye. Turning his back, he began walking toward the main road in the distance, leaving the hairy figure and the purple haired man behind.

Halibel crossed his arms and returned his narrowed gaze back on the souvenir shelves. Julius followed suit to continue inspecting the various horns, ceramics and oni masks on the stall in front of him. While Halibel was checking the shelves, he talked with Julius about Reinhard's capabilities.

Halibel: 「Considering it's Rein-san we're talking about, I'd be surprised if he didn't came back in mere seconds.」

Julius: 「That's indeed true. But it's still better to not draw any attention to ourselves. Miss Laura warned us about the consequences.」

Halibel: 「I can't even imagine what she had done to you in that carriage...」

Julius: 「Oh, it was actually us who were acting strange back then. Then the roles switched when she got near you...」

Julius gave a poker smile and waited to see how Halibel will react. As expected, Halibel began chewing on his kiseru with anger and answered with a trembling voice.

Halibel: 「I-I never assumed I could get so irritated by such innocent words...」

Julius: 「Of course it's unexpected and I'm actively taking notes of your behaviour, Hal-san. It seems the topic of her is the most effective against you.」

Halibel: 「Even I can get provoked time to time! Why would you poke it further instead of letting it be?」

Julius: 「Couldn't it be because we're friends, despite our reliant presence here?」

Julius kept mocking at the hairy figure standing next to him. While doing so, he grabbed another mask from the stall and examined the colourful imagery on it.

"The Sutsubun Oni mask, huh? They seem to take this festival really seriously." he noted while inspecting the mask in his hand.

* * *

The red haired man was walking in the streets of Banan. His eyes were admiring the sheer scale of this shopping district. Even in Lugnica, the capital of Lugunica, the streets weren't as lively as it was here. And the grocery section was just an empty corner compared to the main part of the market section. Here, despite the late time, everyone was still on the streets, visiting culture fairs, watching the open theatres, gathering around the various artists to watch them display their talents and many other things Reinhard couldn't even put his finger on.

Appearantly this was a special time of the month where all the shops in the main street would bring in exclusive goods and pay street artists to advertise for them. Born out of the greedy Kararagian mercantalism, this was an artificially made shopping frenzy to flock people in the shops and sell out their rare goods. And it was clearly working, as the streets were filled with numerous customers ready to empty their pockets.

Unfortunately for Reinhard, he was caught in the middle of this mess. Trying to not bump into others while walking, he slowly made his way through the crowd. If he kept the same slow pace, he should reach the exchange office in 15 minutes or so.

Even though the walk wasn't very pleasant, Reinhard was still enjoying the lively atmosphere. He even tipped few street artists he passed by and got surprised reactions from them, which he simply shook off with a smile.

"Life actually moves on outside of Lugunica, huh?" he thought to himself. Just walking in a shopping district with normal clothes, being able to distract himself from the harsh realities of his country, not even having to carry the sword he wasn't worthy of... This was very relaxing, despite the loud crowd around him.

Looking around, he saw an alleyway on the other side of the street and tried to picture out his current location relative to his destination.

"If the exchange office is supposed to be that way... that road should be leading to it." he whispered to himself.

[?: 「Yes sir, you can take a shortcut from there.」a young girl with an oni mask interrupted him. She was curiously checking the red haired man.

Reinhard turned to the girl with a surprised face and nodded.

Reinhard: 「I appreciate the advice, lady. You have my gratitude for it.」

Girl: 「N-no it's fine. You were looking sad so I decided to help.」

Reinhard: 「You have a kind heart, lady. I look forward to pay back for your kindness in the future.」

Girl: 「I'd be ashamed to accept that! Who even pays back for asking directions?!」

Learning that his repayment won't be graced, he faked a disappointed expression to joke with her.

Reinhard: 「Then I must admit that I have been defeated at this battle of kindness.」

Girl: 「What are you even talking about?! You're so weird...」

The girl perplexed at his fancy joke and backed away slightly.

Reinhard: 「...」

In response, Reinhard sulked at his incompetency.

Girl: 「No no I'm joking! I get what you're saying but... you know what, you should just go now.」

Reinhard: 「That seems to be the most plausible thing to do. I'm once again sorry for my startling sense of humour and I guarantee that I'll atone for it.」

Girl: 「Hehe~ I don't know what are you going on about...」

Reinhard: 「It's unimportant, lady. Then I shall move on with my little trip...」he waved to the little girl who was still watching him and began walking to the alleyway on the other side of the street.

* * *

After walking in the dimmed alleyway for few minutes, the red haired man emerged from a narrow corner of the main street. Looking around, he recognized the pavements and knew he was back on the same road again but in a different location now.

"That maneuver seemed to be worth it." Reinhard mused after realizing he could now see the exchange office's sign at the far edge of the street.

"If I take any longer, Julius and Hal-san might get worried." he thought. Not wanting to waste a single second, he locked his eyes on his target and began walking.

After his first few steps, his senses alarmed at him. Instantly turning his back, he managed to stop a running kid from bumping him full speed.

Reinhard: 「Ah, I'm really sorry...」

He took his hands off of the startled kid's shoulders and managed to gaze upon his features.

The kid had short blue hair with unusual style, his eyes were a gentle tone of blue but looked mean, he was also wearing a kimono with matching colours and traditional sandals. Reinhard examined.

His breathing was heavy and his tongue was almost sticking out from panting. Sweat drops were forming around his forehead which were getting constantly getting sweeped off by the boy. It was clear that he was running for a while like this.

But to Reinhard, those were unimportant nuances compared to the sense of familiarity he was getting from the boy.

"This kid looks so familiar." Reinhard mused with conflicting thoughts. _Why was he feeling like he knew this kid before? Why does he look so familiar?_ _Why does this kid evoke a sense of guilt in him?_

Reinhard: 「You are...」

Kid: 「O-oh I'm sorry, sir. I was just going to see my sister and I couldn't dodge you since you jumped on my way and ehhh...」

 _Why do we know each other?_ Reinhard asked...

Reinhard: 「Have we met before?」

Blue haired boy was taken aback by the sudden question. He sweeped off the sweat on his forehead again and turned his face to the red haired man.

They stood motionless with their eyes locked on each other, waiting for the answer.


	5. To Understand Each Other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you, everyone. I'm glad to see this fic doing way better than I expected. This being my first ever writing, I wasn't expecting all the attention and anticipation it got.
> 
> Secondly, even if I don't answer your reviews, be assured that I've read them. I check every single review I get and take them into consideration. And I appreciate all of it. To all the people who drop reviews, thank you.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!

As the crowd around kept flowing, two figures stood motionless, frozen in time.

Their eyes were locked in place, intently trying to peek into each other's minds. Their expressions were blank.

But that state didn't last long as the boy's patience gave in and he broke the short-lived eye contact. The middle of a crowded street wasn't the most suitable for holding a gazing contest after all.

The boy's eyes drifted to peek upon other parts of the man's face. He had medium-length red hair, a well-shaped elegant face, and sharp but alluring eyes. _Charming_. But leaving the poetry aside, he easily concluded that he had never seen this remarkable man before since he had quite the notable features.

Still, something was bothering him, the intimidating eyes this man had, gazing upon every single inch of his being. He felt a shiver down his spine.

He wasn't anything close to a seasoned fighter nor he had much of an experience on dealing with serious foes. His specialty was his dexterity and instincts, basically the flight half of the equation. And now, both of them were yelling at him to tread carefully. His instincts were screaming at him to not provoke the man in front of him, almost to an irrational extent. And by examining his stance, he concluded that his dexterity won't be a match either. Even if there was a mountain tied to the man's back, without exaggeration.

Realizing the seemingly dangerous situation, his heart began to race. His palms started to get sweaty and his forehead followed suit. His courage was eroding away because of the look in the man's eyes. _This is way too intense. Is he angry? Am I in trouble?_ His thoughts swirled as the muscles on his limbs tensed. _Will he hurt me?_

Luckily, or rather unluckily, he wasn't the only one going through such turmoil. Reinhard was also having his own conflict, trying to understand his own feelings coupled with the urge to grasp the situation. If not for his efforts, his gaze might've grown into a frown by now.

But he was finally snapped out of his dreadful thoughts as he saw the frightened expression on the boy's face. _What am I doing?_ He blinked a few times and shooked his head to get back to his senses, to some degree at least. It seemed to work but the self-doubt still remained. _I need answers._ After taking a breath, the edges of his eyes softened and he forced a smile on his face. _I must repent. But for what?_ He offered a dull excuse for the discomfort he caused.

Reinhard: 「Oh, I'm deeply sorry for my behavior. It wasn't my intention to startle you.」

Upon hearing the red-haired man's voice once again, the boy's heart skipped a beat. _Why am I scared? He's just apologizing._ He must act normal to relieve the unnecessary tension between them. He gulped his saliva and tried to give a proper response, hopefully without freaking out this time.

Boy: 「N-No! I'm the one who should be sorry for bothering you. I'm sincerely apologizing for my behavior. I-I'll gladly atone for it if possible.」

His face immediately turned sour as the inadequate apology left his mouth. His insincerity was blatantly overflowing. _Idiot! How can you mess that up?_ He facepalmed as the cringy plea he offered replayed in his mind again. Preferring such fancy words to modestly chosen ones could also be seen as rudeness after all.

To his surprise, the man in front of him gave a small chuckle and his obviously forced smile turned into a more genuine one. He was simply amused to hear his funny attempt to act with formality. He nodded with his head and answered with a friendly tone.

Reinhard: 「There's no need for such formalities as that was merely a slight inconvenience. I'm also glad to see you're doing fine.」

The red-haired man sounded more genuine, more collected. The boy decided to reciprocate in a similar manner.

Boy: 「Uh... I was a bit shaken back then but I'm okay now. I'll try to be careful next time.」

The boy sighed with relief as the awkward situation was now gone and the man was just smiling instead of gazing at him. _So that's how it is, huh?_ He concluded that the former situation was just a misunderstanding as there was no way this man can be a dangerous person.

He scratched his head and loosened all his muscles simultaneously. Now relaxed, he opened his mouth again.

Boy: 「Once again, I'm sorry for almost bumping into you. So, I think I should get going now.」

He nodded and slowly began to move his feet. _I'm late to the cook-off and haven't seen Spica the whole day. I can't stand being away from her any longer._ As he was about to run past the red-haired man, he was abruptly stopped again. This time, by a question.

Reinhard: 「Can you hold on for a moment? It may be just a hunch but I feel like we're familiar with each other so I'll repeat my previous question. Do you think we met each other before?」

The kid stopped moving and responded after musing in his thoughts for a moment. His answer was confident this time.

Boy: 「I'm sorry sir but I can't recognize who you are and I'm sure we never met before. Though, if you already know me, that's a different story.」

Reinhard's face fell down and he looked like he was contemplating something. He began scratching his cheek and was trying to assess the situation. _Was I wrong?_ But no matter how much thinks about it, the answer remained blank. He returned his face to the boy and continued.

Reinhard: 「Actually, the answer to that is also no for me. Well, I suppose it really was just a hunch.」

After that, Reinhard puts his hands on his waist and tilts his head slightly. _I can at least learn his name, right? Even if it's just a baseless assumption, there may still be merit to it unseen to me._ After pondering for a short moment, he lifted his head back up and spoke out.

Reinhard: 「We both seem to be in a rush but we'll likely meet again in the near future. It'd be wonderful if you can offer me your name.」

Boy: 「Ah, yes. I can at least do that for you. My name is Rigel, nice to meet you, sir.」

Rigel offered his hand for Reinhard to shake it. Seeing his gesture, Reinhard smiled and gladly took the offered hand.

Reinhard: 「You can call me Rein. Nice to meet you too.」

Rigel's eyes squinted for a second and he put his fist to his chin. The name sounded familiar but the idea immediately disappeared as he remembered his other problems. _Spica! And mom of course..._

Rigel: 「Then I should be off now, Rein-san. Sun has already set and my mom must be getting angrier as we speak.」

Reinhard: 「Heh... Then see you later, Rigel. But make sure to call me just Rein next time. I hope to see each other as friends, after all.」

Rigel: 「O-Okay, Rein. See you later.」

"His nice guy index is off the charts." Rigel thought as he nodded and took off from the scene, leaving behind a snorting Reinhard.

Reinhard: 「Friends, huh? I might've overestimated my capabilities. Can I actually friend anyone other than Julius?」

 _We'll see when we meet again. There's still so much I want to ask him. But I should go back to Julius and Hal-san as soon as possible._ Reinhard turned his face to the exchange office on the other side of the street and slowly walked without trying to bump into anyone.

* * *

After coming back from the exchange office with a sizeable amount of money, Reinhard was greeted by the vendor he left before.

Vendor: 「Well, I already packed my goods and was ready to go. If ya hadn't showed up for few more minutes, you'd have lost your chance, sir.」

The vendor was waiting for his last customer of the day with a bag in hand in his mostly empty stall. Sun having been already set, the shop was ready to close. But out of kindness and some hope of generous tipping, he decided to wait a little longer.

Reinhard: 「I'm sorry for my delay. There was a commotion in the main street so I was unfortunately held up.」

While apologizing, Reinhard pulled out his purse and got himself few coins for the fruits. He nodded to the vendor and dropped the coins in the stretched hand of the vendor.

Vendor: 「To be honest, it's still amazing you've showed up at all despite the crowd there. So for living up to your promise, I'll generously- wait a second!」

Reinhard: 「Is there a problem? Perhaps the amount isn't commensurate enough for the hindrance I've caused?」

The vendor checked the payment he was given for two bunch of loquats he sold. The red-haired man had paid well, well over the necessary amount.

Vendor: 「Umm... I don't know if I should accept this level of generosity. My dignity doesn't allow me to, at least.」

Reinhard: 「No worries, sir. I'm well aware of the bizarreness of this transaction. But as I said when we met last time, it's just better to seize the opportunity by acting charitable. Besides, you can accept this as recompensation for the overtime you've done.」

Vendor: 「Sigh... You'll be left with empty pockets if you keep that up but you have my gratitude for it, sir. If you need anything else in the future, I'll surely offer my help.」

The vendor thanked his customer with a wide grin on his face while handing him the fruit bag.

Reinhard: 「I'm glad to hear it. I might actually need your help at the moment. Have you seen Halibel-sama with a purple-haired man nearby? They're my companions and I can't seem to find them.」

Vendor: 「Ah, so you know Hal-san, huh? And you're even tagging along with him? That sounds like one hell of a story but...」

The vendor puts his palm to his chin. After few seconds of humming and looking around, he pointed at the souvenir shops nearby.

Vendor: 「They're probably inside one of those souvenir shops so you might want to check there. Last I saw them, they were still checking those masks.」

Reinhard nodded with his head and smiled at the vendor. With a bag of fruits in hand, he began walking towards the shops ahead.

Luckily, he caught his friends from the corner of his eye while passing in front of one of the shops. But the situation inside seemed absurd.

Julius was being forced to try on traditional Kararagian adornments by his hairy friend while Halibel had an Oni mask that didn't even fit on his wolf-like skull.

Halibel: 「You look quite fabulous with that necklace, Jul-san.」

There was a large necklace with giant flower figures on Julius' neck. It looked evidently feminine which didn't go well with Julius' manlier appearance.

Julius: 「That's simply your subjective opinion, Hal-san. But it's also quite clear to me that these accessories won't do any good.」

Julius sighed and took off the large necklace, putting it back on the shelf.

Halibel: 「I can confidently say that you were objectively *heh* charming with it.」

Julius: 「Well, at least it fits my frame. But that mask seems too out-of-place for you, Hal-san.」

Halibel: 「It's not my fault for having a big face. But I'll still be striving to reach your charm. Can you put that back on so I can have another look at your beauty?」

Halibel tried to hide his cheeky smile with the unfitting mask while Julius simply shrugged in response.

Julius: 「That's simply impossible as I have no intention of being humiliated further. If you think they're fashionable, then you should be buying them for yourself.」

While Halibel kept mocking at the man beside him, Reinhard entered to shop and walked next to them with a bag in hand.

Their eyes immediately met and Reinhard joined in the conversation. Soon after, Reinhard's eyes turned to the large flowery necklace on the shelf.

Reinhard: 「I never assumed Julius would have such fashionable inclinations. But I'll support your decision instead of acting judgemental, as a friend should.」

Julius: 「Sigh... There seems to be a misunderstanding but I'll waste no efforts to correct it. You can keep making assumptions as you wish.」

Julius shook his head as he lamented for letting himself belittled to such extents but he concluded that his efforts to fight back will be fruitless.

Halibel: 「So Rein-san had returned. And, he also seems to have bought something for himself?」

Reinhard: 「Ah, these are some loquats I bought from a shop over there. They tasted quite delightful to me so I assumed you might want to try them too, Julius. Hal-san can try them out too, of course.」

Reinhard smiled at the two men while slightly shaking the bag in his hand. Seeing this, Julius puts his hand to his chin with a smirk which he tried to hide.

Julius: 「I can accept your offer but I'll only have a taste since I don't enjoy them all that much. Those fruits don't appeal to me in general.」

Reinhard: 「So you ate them before?」

Reinhard raised his eyebrows when he heard Julius claiming to have a wider experience with various fruits. Of course he believed his words but it's still demoralizing to face his incompetency.

Julius: 「Indeed, I have. Though, I appreciate your kindness.」

Seeing his chance, Halibel stops chewing on his kiseru and jumps in to capitalize on the opportunity.

Halibel: 「Hey! If you don't want them, then I can gladly binge your share. Those fruits don't come cheap around here after all.」

Julius: 「Seems plausible.」

Halibel: 「Quite fast! And you seem relieved?」

Julius: 「I'm simply rejoicing for being saved from the responsibility.」

Hairy wolf turns his narrowed eyes with an apologetic expression with his arms crossed in front.

Halibel: 「Well, Rein-san is still here and he can hear us...」

Reinhard: 「I'm not upset at him for having different tastes. Don't worry.」

After shaking his head, Reinhard returns his face to the hairy wolf beside him and asks if they're also done.

Reinhard: 「And if you are also done here...」

Halibel: 「We know, we know. Actually, it was you who kept us waiting.」

Reinhard: 「I guess that fact was granted from the start. Once again, I'm sorry for the delay.」

Halibel: 「Do I really have to remind you to not take those jokes seriously? Sigh... Whatever let's stop idling around. Follow me.」

Halibel puts down the unfitting mask on his face and began walking toward the exit. While doing so, he gestures the two men to follow after him. Both men nod with their heads and walked behind him.

* * *

Three men were standing in front of the tenement houses complex. Since the sun was long set, faint street lights and the dim moonlight were the only things illuminating the surrounding area. Weirdly, not a single soul was around. Both knights assumed it was probably due to this part of town being far from the shops. Well, even in such a lively town, most people still retreated to their homes when night arrives. _It was still better than hiding all the time like they do in Lugunica._

Taking short steps side by side, three men began walking towards the one-room rental on the upstairs. Their mouths were closed shut and eyes locked on their destination, they kept moving until they arrived at the designated rooms for them.

Looking under the door, Halibel reached for a tiny package that was left there and read the memo on it.

_You'll be getting these delivered to your door every day for the next 10 days, seemingly. Good luck..._

Halibel: 「...signed by Laura... She even writes with her speech pattern?! That's one hell of a commitment to one's image... I wonder what she had sent us?」

Halibel mused loudly while still crouching on the ground. Hearing his murmuring, the two knights became interested and inspected the package in Halibel's hand from afar.

Julius: 「Perhaps the entry log of the town? She said the entrances will be monitored after we arrive...」

While nodding on Julius' remarks, Reinhard wanted to state his own insights, but the large drawing on the package piqued his interest and he bent down to look from closer. With a smile on his face, he spoke out.

Reinhard: 「She seems enthusiastic about helping us, or rather you Hal-san. Enough to leave that... mark on the letter...」

Halibel: 「You mean this weird red shape? Looks familiar but I don't know what to make of it.」

Julius: 「To my understanding, that shape is supposed to resemble a heart. A big one indeed.」

Halibel raised an eyebrow after hearing Julius' explanation who was also crouching beside him. He began turning around the little package in his hand tried to see for himself.

Halibel: 「Stop being ridiculous. Hearts I saw don't resemble whatever this thing is.」

Straightening his back, Julius shrugged his response with an amused tone.

Julius: 「I still haven't figured the symbolism behind it either. Since obscure imagery isn't my specialty, I cannot tell confidently anyways.」

Halibel: 「Sigh... We're stuck on the useless details again. Let's get in so you can explain everything in full detail to me.」

Halibel gets back up on his feet open's the room's door. Two knights turn to each other for a short moment and follow after the hairy wolf.

* * *

_He seemed like a good person but who the hell was he? He even assumed me being someone else._ Rigel kept running in the streets of Banan and soon reached a clearing. Getting delayed on top of already being late was the ultimate recipe for angering his cautious mom.

 _How long have I been running_ for? Due to adrenaline rushing through his veins, his critical thinking was getting blurry. But one thing remained clear in his mind. _He should make haste or else._

But even that thought was becoming hard to keep a hold on it. After running all the way from the shopping streets to here, his breath was shortened to the point of being pointless.

He decided to stop for a moment and catch his breath. _If I run any more, I might fall and don't get back up for a while._ He was now back at the pond he went this morning. Slowly, he made his way to one of the benches along the gravel path. After finally sitting down to rest for a short moment, he gazed at his surroundings to see if anyone was there. Unlike morning, no ducks were swimming in the pond and no one was around either.

While silently panting, he murmured to himself.

Rigel: 「Ahh... I came here this morning too. But Uncle Hal probably isn't here this time.」

Leaning his back on the bench and stretching his legs as much as he could from his spot, Rigel kept watching the reflected moonlight on the pond's surface.

_That red-haired man... What was the deal with him?_

His heartbeat slowed and the sweat drops slowly stopped forming on his forehead. Even being a half-blood Oni gave him enough room to grow his dexterity and he could also regain his stamina rapidly. _I should thank mom for that I guess._ A faint crack sound came from behind but he wasn't paying attention. He scratched his cheek while contemplating which excuses he should offer to save himself. But other thoughts also began resurfacing along with his main anxieties.

_I can say that I was held up by my friends. Maybe she'll show leniency? BAAH! Who am I kidding? I am done for!_

?: 「Rigel...」

Another faint crack...

_I didn't even ask what was wrong with that man. He looked sad. I should've talked more. Wait a second why am I thinking this?_

_?:_ 「Rigel-」

_Should I look for him? Maybe I can help him out..._

_?:_ 「Don't ignore me! I'm calling to you!」

Rigel: 「-OOWAAA!」

Upon hearing the sudden voice from behind, Rigel jumped from his spot toward the gravel path in front of him. After tumbling on the ground for a short moment, he regained his footing and shook off the dirt from his clothes. He then cautiously gazed at his surroundings to find the owner of that voice. Luckily, it didn't take him long to find the intruder. Standing behind the bench he was sitting on moments ago was an inhumanly beautiful woman with milky-white hair. She was wearing a black-white kimono with a short skirt, revealing her long slender legs. Her almond-shaped bright yellow color eyes were locked on him, watching his every movement. With the moonlight shining on her pearly white skin and hair, the only thing that could describe the scene was _mesmerizing._

Rigel recognized this person immediately. It was Tia, a family friend whom Rigel met seldom, usually on random occasions. Rigel always wondered why she always appeared randomly. First, it was when he was helping his mom with shopping and now when he was cooling his exhaustion off beside the pond. It could be said that her schedule was always untimely.

Shooking his head, Rigel met his eyes with Tia's and called to her with a hint of awe.

Rigel:「You don't have to just sneak behind me! I could've done something bad accidentally if you scare me like that!」

Raising an eyebrow, Tia tilted her head and responded with her arms crossed beneath her chest.

Tia: 「Well, I think most you can do is to pee your pants. But that'd be a shameful situation for you, right?」

Rigel: 「I'm big enough to hold that in! Don't treat me like a baby!」

Tia: 「I thought kids your age still peed themselves occasionally. Hmm, I don't know if Rem-chan'll get angry with me if I try to prove my point. Curious...」

Tia puts her hand to her mouth as a smirk appears on her face. Seeing this, Rigel takes two steps back with a frightened face while trying to argue against her.

Rigel: 「It's not the same thing if you force me to do it! Besides, what'll you get out of it from doing that?!」

Tia: 「Hm... Of course, I'll not get anything out of it other than joy. But expressing my freedom and enjoying doing stuff I like is justifiable, right? Embarrassing you in front of your friends wasn't enough it seems. Ahh, chopping your head off might be also suitable...」

Tia keeps glaring at the little boy with the same expression as she continues her threats. Mistaking her act as genuine, Rigel realizes his situation and takes two more steps back.

Rigel: 「-Stop! I'll do anything!」

Tia: 「Just kidding! I wasn't serious! At least not totally...」

Tia starts laughing as the grimace on her face disappears and tries to calm down the boy.

Rigel: 「That wasn't very reassuring you know! And why do you keep threatening me?!」

Tia: 「Sigh... I was angry since you didn't talk to me this morning. Look, come here.」

Tia walks to the front of the bench and sits down at the right side of it, gesturing Rigel to come over and sit next to her.

Rigel: 「Only if you promise to not do something weird again. I'm also in a hurry, you see.」

Tia: 「Well, okay. It's a promise, I won't do anything that might scare you. I just want to talk.」

Rigel: 「You want to talk? But I haven't seen Spica the whole day and I don't have any time to spare. I should be going home right now.」

Tia: 「...So you're going to run away from me again? I can catch up to you in few seconds, you know.」

Rigel: 「No! I'm not playing cat and mouse right now! I just don't have the time to talk...」

Tia: 「Even if I came all this way to see you? Sigh... If you want to be distant, that's okay. You're not obligated to talk to me anyway...」

Tia sighed while slowly tilting her head left and right. A weird feeling aroused within Rigel's chest. His anxiety flared up once more. But while keeping his composure, he gulped his saliva and tried to excuse himself.

Rigel: 「Look, I'm not trying to be distant. But I just can't idle around when I'm already late. Please understand.」

Tia: 「If you don't want to see me, that's fine. Then I'll just go and don't bother you again.」

Rigel: 「No wait! I...」

As if about to leave, Tia gets back on her feet and slowly turns away from Rigel. Looking at her, Rigel's anxiety turned into regret and he requested for her to stay instead.

Rigel: 「O-kay okay! Please don't go. I think we can talk.」

Tia: 「But you just said that you don't have the time?!」

Rigel: 「I don't but if you want to talk with me, I can at least listen to what you have to say.」

With a smile forming on her face, Tia sits back down at the bench and watches Rigel as he slowly makes his way next to her.

Tia: 「Then I think I must thank you for making time for me.」

Rigel: 「It's not a big deal! Besides, it wouldn't really matter if I arrived home 5 minutes later since it's already far past that point.」

Tia: 「That may be true but you're still doing this as a favor and I like it.」

Rigel: 「Uhh... Anyways... I still want to ask how did you find me here?」

Tia: 「The bracelet I gave you, of course. I can track it down, so that's how I knew you were here. I also told Rem and Su-san to let me bring you back and they agreed.」

Rigel: 「You can track me down with this bracelet?! You didn't even tell me you can do such a thing!」

Rigel turned his eyes away from Tia and looked at the bracelet on his left hand. It was a gift given to him by Tia some time ago and he wore it ever since. She told him that she'll rush to his help whenever he's in danger if he wore it and to not hesitate whenever he's in danger. Though he still didn't get the chance to use it yet nor he knew how to anyways, he kept wearing it since it was a gift. But being traceable? Tia never told him about it when she gave the bracelet.

Tia: 「I-I only did it because I wanted to make sure you were okay... I don't want you to die just yet.」

Rigel: 「Ah... This is still weird.」

Tia: 「If you aren't okay with it, you can stop wearing it. I'm not going to force you to seek my help. You're reluctant to trust me after all.」

Rigel: 「Actually, no. It's reassuring to be able to rely on someone strong like you. I'm not sure how strong you exactly are but I know Uncle Hal is strong and I can tell you're at least on par with him.」

Tia: 「So you're going to keep wearing it?」

Rigel: 「Well, I'll be a bit more reluctant to do so since I now know you can track me down with this thing but...」

His eyes still on the bracelet, Rigel reached his right hand and squeezed the ornament with little pressure. The white fur felt soft and Rigel could imagine how comfy would a blanket made out of it will feel like. This sensation being so limited was a bummer for him.

But after resurfacing from his pointless thoughts, he turned his eyes back to the woman next to him.

Rigel: 「Since my parents trust you so much, I'll keep wearing it.」

Tia: 「I'll be fine either way. But still, I'm happy that you acknowledged me as someone you can trust. You're one of the few people I'll regret killing after all.」

Rigel: 「Am I walking on knife's edge or something? You sound like you're barely holding yourself from causing a massacre sometimes.」

Tia: 「Hmm... That might be true... This looks like a good moment for me to spill some beans for you, right?」

Rigel: 「I still don't know much about you since we don't get to talk like this often. It'd be nice if you were more open about yourself.」

Tia: 「Well, a child like you shouldn't be demanding that with such eagerness if they want to keep their heads but you're lucky that I'm in the mood for it.」

Rigel: 「... O-okay then...」

Tia: 「Then I'll start from the basics for you. Tia is an abbreviation of my real name. My actual name is Zarestia.」

Rigel: 「Zarestia... You mean like the Reaper Zarestia?!」

Tia: 「You figured more than I expected. And yes, I'm also known as the Reaper.」

Rigel: 「B-But! If you really are the Reaper Zarestia, this town would've been wiped out already!」

Tia: 「Sigh... Then what do you think happened when you were born? I'm sure you heard of it.」

Rigel: 「I don't know much but mom said the entire town almost got destroyed. So that was actually about you?! You were the one who almost destroyed the town?」

With her arms crossed under her chest, Tia nodded lightly with her head and continued.

Tia: 「Exactly. I was on the verge of destroying this town but it was luckily avoided and nobody got hurt.」

Rigel: 「So you're actually the Reaper Zarestia... And you came all the way here to destroy the town but then changed your mind?」

Tia: 「I didn't just randomly show up to cause a massacre. I usually stay within my own domain, you might've heard about it.」

Rigel: 「Zarestia's Bed... That's the place where the Reaper is told to be dwelling... Then what brought you all the way here?」

Tia: 「My Light Sphere was stolen from me. It's the source of my powers, at least most of it.」

Rigel: 「Did mom- no that's impossible! It must've been my dad who stole it, right? You wouldn't get involved with us otherwise.」

Tia: 「Hah! It wasn't Su-san who stole my Light Sphere, not Rem-chan either. The thief was an Oni so I assumed your mother was the culprit based on her smell. Oni's have a distinct smell after all.」

Rigel: 「An Oni? So you accused my mother of being a thief ?! How dare you do such a thing!」

Rigel jumped from his spot and pointed towards Tia with a grimace. His voice sounded furious and accusative. Seeing this, Tia waved her hands to calm down the agitated Rigel.

Tia: 「Wait a second! I haven't finished yet. At least wait until I tell you the whole thing.」

Rigel: 「Hmph... Fine... But you better not jump over important details...」

Tia: 「Of course. I don't want you pissing your pants from anger.」

Rigel: 「Tch... Then go on.」

Tia: 「Basically, we made a deal that, if they were able to find the real thief, I'll let them be.」

Rigel: 「You really must've threatened them even though they were innocent. But the issue had been later resolved, right?」

Tia: 「Yes, it was resolved but everything was so chaotic even for someone like me.」

Tia's face fell down as she remembered the battle that took place years ago. She could've died there if not for the townsfolk's help.

Rigel: 「I can't even imagine how you guys pulled through all of that...」

Tia: 「Your dad and Hal-san helped me quite a lot. They came to save me while your mother was going through your labor.」

Rigel: 「So you made them occupied with dealing with your problems while my mom was going through such a hard moment. She must've felt really lonely... You're the worst.」

Tia: 「I know it and I'm sorry. But when your mom was proven innocent, I told them to leave me the rest. They chose to help me themselves.」

Rigel: 「Hm... That sounds less bad compared to blackmailing them. So you befriended them for the favor they did?」

Tia: 「Not exactly. I appreciated their help but I also could've paid my debt and be done with it. Sigh... I hate to admit it but after I got my Light Sphere back, my bloodlust came back with it but I went out of my way to not harm anyone because I know I'll regret it.」

Rigel: 「Well, I can't blame you since mom is a very lovely person and she seems to have forgiven you.

With his palm under his chin, Rigel tried to assess the information Tia gave him. _She had done bad things but she seems to regret it. I cannot feel angry at her_ either.

Rigel: 「I guess I have to do the same thing...」

Tia: 「If you decide to forgive me too, I'd be happy. I don't want you to hate me after all.」

Rigel: 「Still, I cannot fathom the fact that you're Reaper Zarestia. You look dangerous but not like a cold-blooded murderer. The tales about you must be exaggerating...」

Tia: 「Sigh... If you think my words are not believable, then I can show you my Light Sphere as proof. But I'll not show mercy if you try to pull off something weird with it. The last person to do it got me in big trouble after all.」

Rigel: 「Then I don't want it! I can tell you're very protective of that thing but showing it to me just to prove your point is-」

Tia: 「Here, open your hands. Try not to drop it.」

Without being able to say another word, Rigel opened his hands and caught the orb Tia threw at him.

Looking at his palms, he saw a small shiny orb standing aloft on his hands. A constant cold breeze was circulating around it and Rigel felt frightened by the orb's presence. Though, the light it gave off and the eery aura it had looked cool.

Tia: 「As I said it's the source of my power. When I don't have it my bloodlust also is gone. That's why I negotiated with your parents instead of just killing them. By the way, don't try to embrace the power it holds, it'll be problematic if you do so.」

Rigel: 「This thing is... your source of power? Feels a bit cold and scary but I think it looks cool. Also, if it's really important to you, why are you handing it to me so easily?」

Tia: 「Because you're Rem-chan and Su-san's kid and I trust you the same way I trust them. So I can entrust it to you without concern...」

Rigel: 「I-I... Thank you for showing me this...」

He shook his hands slightly, making the floating orb dance around in his palms. _So this is what makes her who she is..._

After looking at it for a while, he returned his eyes back to Tia who was cautiously watching his hands. _Guess I shouldn't keep this thing any longer._

Rigel:「If it's really important to you, you should have it back. I don't want you to lose this thing again.」

Tia: 「If you're done with looking at it, then I can get it back I guess. Here...」

With a small swing of her arm, a wind picks up around the orb and it slowly flies towards Tia. She reaches her arm and catches the flying orb with her hand. With the orb in her palms and her eyes closed, she goes silent for a short moment as the shiny orb disappears within her hands.

Rigel: 「So you're back in your real form now?」

With a frown on her face, Tia glares at Rigel for a short moment before she pinches her cheek and calms down her bloodlust. After a silent sigh, she calmly answers.

Tia: 「I am but not totally. Don't worry I'm not going to kill you. Well, I want to but I'll regret it so I won't.」

Rigel: 「I'm glad to hear, I guess...」

Tia: 「We should go now. Rem-chan might get worried if we wait any longer.」

Rigel: 「Uh... I suppose we should. But I'm still in big trouble...」

Tia: 「Hah! Maybe if you ask me to help you, I might consider it.」

Upon hearing Tia, Rigel jumps from his spot and asks Tia for help in anticipation.

Rigel: 「Really?! I-I'd accept any help! Just tell me what to do.」

Tia: 「Then listen carefully.」

After getting on her feet, Tia crouches down so that their faces are on the same level. As she does so, she whispers her plan to help him.

Tia: 「When we get back, act like you were just scolded by me. I'll tell Rem-chan to not worry about it. I believe she'll buy it.」

With her index finger on her mouth, she winks at the blue-haired boy and ruffles his hair further.

_I want to tell her to stop that but uh... She's helping me and she's... cute I guess..._

Rigel: 「Uhh... If you think you can make it work, then I'll trust you Tia.」

Tia: 「Then come with me.」

Without a warning, Tia catches Rigel's hand and drags him after her. Of course, Rigel who wants to keep his pride as a man objects immediately.

Rigel: 「Y-you don't have to hold my hand! I can walk just fine.」

Tia: 「Absolutely not. And be grateful that I'm not carrying you like a princess.」

Whilst saying that, Tia keeps dragging the blushing Rigel along with a smile on her face.


End file.
